UN says fuel shortages push Cuba into humanitarian crisis

by IANS |

United Nations, March 11 (IANS) Fuel shortages in Cuba have triggered a humanitarian crisis with the island nation's health system approaching a critical point, a UN spokesman said.

"We remain deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation, driven by the inability to import fuel," said Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"This has triggered an energy crisis."

The world body is engaging with member states, including the United States, so aid can be delivered unimpeded, Dujarric said during a briefing on Tuesday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that hospitals face frequent power outages, shortages of essential medicines, the inability to operate critical equipment, as well as major disruptions to oncology care, dialysis, emergency services, infant and maternal care, cold-chain systems, as well as chronic and non-urgent care.

The office said about 16,000 cancer patients need radiotherapy and more than 12,000 depending on chemotherapy cannot get the treatment needed due to power outages and resource shortages. Ambulances are struggling to obtain fuel, delaying urgent care.

OCHA said that nearly one million people depend on water delivered by tanker trucks, which require fuel. More than 80 percent of water-pumping infrastructure relies on electricity, resulting in widespread and prolonged service disruptions, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Food supply chains -- from production to storage to distribution -- are increasingly impacted, with cold-chain systems failing, transport routes increasingly interrupted, and reductions in the availability of basic food items across the country," the office said.

OCHA said its humanitarian partners are working to assist, but the lack of fuel is limiting the operations of food and water trucks, with dozens of aid containers waiting at the port.

The US administration announced last month it was allowing some oil into Cuba, but it can only be sold to the private sector, not to the government. Washington previously banned oil from Venezuela bound for Cuba.