As the sun came up on a flat calm Florida Straits, two ships arrived off the port of Havana: the Isla Holbox, a squat logistics ship, followed by the more aggressive looking Papaloapan, whose bow ramp gave the appearance of a large beetle.
The two Mexican navy ships docked on Thursday laden with humanitarian aid as part of Mexico’s efforts to support Cuba amid a deepening crisis exacerbated by Donald Trump’s economic pressure campaign.
The boats, carrying more than 800 tons in aid, arrived at the Caribbean nation two weeks after Trump signed an executive order allowing the US to slap tariffs on any country selling or providing oil to Cuba, effectively choking off fuel to the island.
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said on Thursday that her government was seeking diplomatic measures to allow the country to resume sending oil to Cuba, but emphasized that as soon as the ships return, “we will send more support of different kinds.”
The Isla Holbox carried some 536 tons of food including milk, rice, beans, sardines, meat products, cookies, canned tuna and vegetable oil, as well as personal hygiene items. The Papaloapan carried just over 277 tons of powdered milk, according to the Mexican government.
Mexico’s determination to aid Cuba in its moment of dire need – even as it bows to Washington’s pressure to stop sending oil – evinces the complex historical relationship between the three countries that stretches back more than a century.
“The energy pressure that Trump is exerting on Cuba places Mexico in a dilemma that is very characteristic of its entire history of diplomatic relations with the United States and Cuba,” said Rafael Rojas, a Cuban historian at the College of Mexico. “Mexico is yielding to the demands of the United States – and on the other hand it maintains its solidarity with the island.”
Mexico’s relationship with Cuba stretches back as far as the 19th century, when revolutions for independence from Spain in both countries saw waves of migration between the two countries, Rojas said.
Migration from Cuba to Mexico increased again during the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, which stretched from 1952 to 1959. Among those who moved to Mexico were Fidel and Raúl Castro as well as an Argentinian exile named Ernesto “Che” Guevara.
Guevara met the Castro brothers in Mexico City in 1955: together, they began planning what became the Cuban revolution, which toppled Batista in 1959. Afterwards, Mexico was one of the few countries in the region that did not yield to US pressure and maintained ties to the island.
“The relationship with Cuba has historically served the Mexican government to distance itself from the United States,” said Rojas.
And even though there was a tacit agreement that Cuba would never actively support guerrilla movements in Mexico, the Cuban revolution inspired Mexican leftists to protest and even to take up arms against the country’s one-party state.
“In Mexico, there was a feeling of a certain fraternity and solidarity, even with the Revolution,” said Ricardo Pascoe, a former Mexican ambassador to Cuba. “People saw it as a good option in the debate on how to combat poverty in Latin America.”
During the cold war, Mexico became a safe jumping-off point for Cubans wanting to travel to other countries, including its revolutionary leaders.
Still, despite publicly maintaining its solidarity with Cuba, the Mexican government was keenly aware that it could not sever ties with its powerful northern neighbour, and even shared intelligence with the United States on Cubans who were coming in and out of the country.
Throughout the following decades, including after the fall of communism, Mexico maintained this contradictory relationship in which it kept up strong ties to the island through trade and humanitarian aid – even as its relationship to the United States became increasingly important.
That changed in 2018 with the election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, popularly known as Amlo, who, along with his leftwing Morena party, was much more aligned with the Cuban government, voicing public support for the island and condemning the US trade embargo.
“When Morena comes to power, there is not only fraternity and solidarity, but also an ideological identification,” said Pascoe.
That has placed Sheinbaum in a particularly precarious position between wanting to appease the pro-Cuban base of her party, while at the same time needing to maintain a good relationship with the Trump administration, particularly with the upcoming renegotiation of the US-Mexico-Canada agreement.
Even after Mexico stopped oil deliveries to Havana, Sheinbaum was at pains to cast it as a “sovereign” decision.
“There’s a discursive balance whereby … she’s presenting this policy of solidarity to appease her base, and on the other hand, she can’t hide the transaction with the United States,” said Rojas. “The fact that Mexico, under pressure from Donald Trump, has stopped sending fuel to Cuba means that Mexico has complied with the oil embargo imposed by the United States.”
With Cuba’s energy crisis deepening, and life on the island becoming increasingly desperate, Sheinbaum has offered Mexico as a host for negotiations, and on Thursday said that her government was in dialogue with the US so that Cuba “can receive oil”.
But if the regime crumbles, Sheinbaum will have to change her tune.
“That pro-Cuba rhetoric won’t work for her any more if the regime falls – she’ll have to modify her message,” said Pascoe. “But for now, she’s at a crossroads, talking about sending food, medicine or humanitarian aid, but there’s no more oil.”