As the United States appears to actively seek regime change in Cuba, Mexico’s state oil company Pemex canceled plans to send a shipment of crude oil to the communist-run island this month, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
On Tuesday morning, President Claudia Sheinbaum stressed that Mexico makes its own “sovereign” decisions regarding oil shipments to Cuba, but didn’t deny that Pemex halted a planned shipment to the island.
Citing “documents” to which it had access, Bloomberg reported that Pemex was expected to send a shipment of oil to Cuba in January but “removed the cargo from its schedule.”
“… The shipment was set to load in mid-January and would have arrived in Cuba before the end of the month under the original schedule,” the news agency wrote.
“… The canceled shipment was expected to load … on board the vessel Swift Galaxy, according to the document. It was removed from the schedule without an explanation.”
Bloomberg’s report, published under the headline “Mexico Shelves Planned Shipment of Oil to Cuba Amid US Tensions,” came three days after Reuters reported that the Mexican government was “reviewing whether to keep sending oil to Cuba amid growing fears within President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration that Mexico could face reprisals from the United States over the policy.”
Reuters: Mexico may halt Cuba oil shipments to avoid angering Trump administration
Reuters said its report was based on information from “senior Mexican government sources.”
“There is a growing fear that the United States could take unilateral action on our territory,” said one of Reuters’ sources.
Earlier this month, Trump asserted that the United States was going to start “hitting” cartels on land in what would be an escalation of a U.S. war on drugs that has included numerous lethal attacks on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
Energy sector expert Carlos Torres told the newspaper Reforma that Pemex’s cancellation of the oil shipment to Cuba is a sign that the state oil company is facing growing pressure from the United States over its deliveries to the Communist-run Caribbean island.
Citing its Mexican government sources, Reuters reported that “Trump questioned Sheinbaum about crude and fuel shipments to Cuba” in a Jan. 12 call, but “did not directly urge Mexico to halt the oil deliveries.”
Sheinbaum reportedly told Trump that the shipments are “humanitarian aid” — even though Mexico is paid for at least some of the oil it sends to Cuba.
Bloomberg wrote that while it’s “unclear” why Pemex cancelled the planned shipment of oil to Cuba this month, “the removal comes as the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump increases pressure on the Caribbean island.”
The news agency noted that a week after the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military operation, Trump wrote on Truth Social that “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!”
“I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” the U.S. president added in the Jan. 11 post.
Mexico is the top supplier of oil to Cuba, and President Claudia Sheinbaum said this month that Pemex planned to continue sending shipments of crude to the energy-strapped, blackout-plagued island.
The importance of imports from Mexico is even more significant now because Cuba is no longer receiving oil from Venezuela due to a U.S. blockade of oil tankers in the South American nation in December and the capture of Maduro on Jan. 3.
Bloomberg reported that Mexico “started sending oil to Cuba in 2023, when Venezuela reduced supplies amid its falling oil production.”
“Pemex sent an average of one ship per month, or the equivalent of 20,000 barrels a day of crude oil last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.”
Sheinbaum questioned about Bloomberg’s report
Asked about Bloomberg’s report at her Tuesday morning press conference, Sheinbaum responded:
“As we have said, it’s a sovereign decision [to send oil to Cuba], and Pemex makes its [own] decisions. … Mexico’s decision to sell or give oil to Cuba for humanitarian reasons has to do with a sovereign decision that has been in place for many years, it’s not recent.”
¿#México fue presionado para suspender entrega de petróleo a Cuba?
La presidenta Sheinbaum descartó que la decisión se haya tomado por presión de gobiernos extranjeros, como Donald Trump y otros políticos, que se quejaron por la ayuda que se envía a la isla pic.twitter.com/Izbwypwu0F
— El Financiero (@ElFinanciero_Mx) January 27, 2026
Sheinbaum noted that the United States embargo against Cuba has been in place for many years, and highlighted that “the blockade has created problems of shortages on the island.”
“Mexico has always shown solidarity [with Cuba] and Mexico will continue to show solidarity,” she said.
“So the decision about when and how [oil] is sent [to Cuba] is a sovereign decision, and it’s taken in terms of what Pemex determines depending on contracts,” Sheinbaum said, adding that the federal government can also take a “humanitarian decision” to send oil to the island nation.
Asked specifically whether she denied that an oil shipment to Cuba had been canceled, the president only responded: “It’s a sovereign decision and taken when necessary.”
Later in the press conference, a reporter asked Sheinbaum whether she could confirm that there was “no political consideration” in the decision to suspend a shipment of oil to Cuba.
“Pemex makes decisions within the contractual relationship it has with Cuba,” the president said.
Asked why the decision to cancel an oil shipment was made this month and “not before,” Sheinbaum simply said that in certain periods in the past, crude was supplied to Cuba while in others it was not.
Asked whether Mexico’s shipments of oil to Cuba would resume at some point, the president responded: “In any case, we will inform you.”
Since Trump returned to the White House just over a year ago and ramped up pressure on Mexico to do more to combat drug cartels, the Mexican government has appeared to attempt to appease the U.S. president in a variety of ways, including by sending more than 90 cartel figures to face justice in the U.S and deploying additional National Guard troops to the northern border area.
However, Sheinbaum is loath to say that such moves are aimed at placating Trump, asserting instead that her government takes its own sovereign decisions that always prioritize Mexico’s interests.
