In effect, Mexico began to finance the survival of the Cuban regime with its own energy resources, collaborating directly with a dictatorship that faces growing international questioning due to the lack of political freedoms and the humanitarian crisis. This move highlighted the contradiction between the official discourse of non-intervention and the concrete practice of sustaining an authoritarian regime economically. The lack of energy keeps industry and agriculture semi-paralyzed, and deepens a social crisis scenario that has already caused the emigration of more than one million Cubans in recent years, many of them stranded in Mexican territory after the closure of the U.S. border. While the Sheinbaum government promised to disclose the conditions under which Cuba pays for the oil received, so far no details have been released. Since then, Mexico has assumed a key role to prevent the total collapse of the Cuban energy system. This support was driven by President Claudia Sheinbaum through Pemex (Petróleos Mexicanos) and its subsidiary Gasolinas Bienestar. The oil backing to Cuba, after the Venezuelan retreat, reinforces that perception and marks a de facto alignment with authoritarian governments in the region. On the island, the situation remains extremely fragile. With shipments of Mexican oil, the Mexican government took the place that Venezuela had for more than two decades as Cuba's energy lifeline, allowing the region's longest-lasting dictatorship to stay afloat amidst a deep economic and social crisis. Maritime navigation data shows that since early December, the arrival of oil tankers from Venezuela to the island has practically stopped. Analysts and former officials warned that the decision not only compromises Mexican foreign policy but also strains the relationship with the United States, Mexico's main trading partner under the USMEC, in a key year of agreement review and under strong tariff pressures from the Trump administration. Trump had publicly warned that there would be "no more oil or money for Cuba," a clear sign of Washington's hardening stance towards any support for the Castro regime. Mexico City, January 19, 2026 - Total News Agency - TNA - Mexico emerged as the mainstay of Cuba's energy supply after the almost complete interruption of Venezuelan crude oil supply, in a geopolitical shift that reinforces the Castro regime and exposes a foreign policy increasingly distant from the neutrality and non-interference that the country has historically proclaimed. The energy assistance comes at a critical time for Havana, which is facing prolonged blackouts, industrial paralysis, and a rapid deterioration in living conditions, with the risk of a new wave of migration to the region. Until the recent fall of Nicolás Maduro, Cuba had secured its energy supply for years through an agreement with Caracas that exchanged oil for professional services. In this context, specialists pointed out that the shipment of Mexican crude "poisons" the bilateral relationship with the United States for a marginal benefit to Mexico, in exchange for significant risks in commercial and financial matters, even before U.S. creditors of Pemex. Mexican energy assistance also occurs in parallel to broader questions about the country's regional role. Various critical voices argue that Mexico not only maintains a lukewarm stance in the fight against drug cartels but also shows an ambiguous—if not complicit—attitude towards democratic backsliding in Latin America. Cuba produces only a fraction of the crude it needs to feed its thermoelectric plants and depends on imported fuel to avoid widespread blackouts. In fact, Mexico has been positioned as the main external support for the Castro regime, replacing Venezuela and revealing that its proclaimed regional neutrality dilutes when it comes to propping up a historically allied dictatorship. Sources consulted: AFP; El Nuevo Herald; maritime navigation data; University of Texas; official statements from the Mexican government; analysts and former foreign policy officials. This scheme began to progressively collapse and was virtually cancelled in December when the last Venezuelan vessel unloaded crude oil in the port of Matanzas. In this void, only sporadic arrivals of the "Ocean Mariner" tanker, loaded with Mexican crude, were registered. Between January and September of last year, Pemex exported to Cuba an average of more than 17,000 barrels per day of crude oil and derivatives, for an amount close to $400 million.
