United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk on Friday urged the lifting of U.S. sanctions that impede oil deliveries to Cuba, criticizing the widespread disruption they cause the Caribbean nation as a rights violation.
Cuba’s loss of oil imports since the U.S. took control of the oil industry in Venezuela, its biggest supplier, has crippled an already struggling economy that depends heavily on oil to generate the electricity that powers the island.
“We are extremely worried about Cuba’s deepening socio-economic crisis — amid a decades-long financial and trade embargo, extreme weather events, and the recent U.S. measures restricting oil shipments,” Marta Hurtado, a spokeswoman for Mr. Türk’s office in Geneva told reporters.
U.S. officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last month, after halting Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba, President Trump increased the pressure on the island nation by declaring a “national emergency” over what he called the “unusual and extraordinary threat” by Cuba for its hostile actions against the U.S. (Mr. Trump did not provide evidence for his claims.) He threatened to impose tariffs on any country that sends oil to Cuba, a move that this week, U.N. human rights experts condemned as a serious violation of international law.
Fuel shortages in Cuba have undermined access to water, sanitation and hygiene and compromised the operation of hospitals, Ms. Hurtado said.
Mr. Türk urged all states to lift any measures that hold back oil deliveries to Cuba, given their impact on the population, Ms. Hurtado said. “Policy goals cannot justify actions that in themselves violate human rights,” she added.
Friday’s comments from Mr. Türk’s office underscored tensions between the U.N. and the Trump administration on issues of human rights and international law despite hints of a thaw in the relationship. During a brief visit to Geneva this week, Mike Walz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that Washington planned on making past due payments to the cash-strapped organization. Mr. Walz did not specify when those payments would be made.
The U.S. owes some $2.2 billion in 2025 and 2026 annual dues to the U.N., which represents about 95 percent of its outstanding arrears. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres has warned that if the U.S. does not pay soon the organization will run out of money by July.
Last week the U.S. signed an agreement with the U.N. unlocking funds for aid for Sudan, the first of 17 such arrangements to direct $2 billion to humanitarian crises.
Still, U.S. policy at home and abroad has drawn criticism from U.N. human rights experts. Recently, Mr. Türk has condemned U.S. strikes on boats suspected of trafficking drugs as violating international law and U.N. human rights experts have said that the fatal shooting of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during an immigration crackdown should be investigated as possible extrajudicial killings.
U.S. officials have resisted calls for independent inquiries into the shooting deaths in Minneapolis, and said that the boat attacks were within the lawful use of force against transnational criminal groups, even though the Trump administration has offered no evidence to back its claims.
The post U.N. Condemns U.S. Measures Halting Oil Deliveries to Cuba appeared first on New York Times.
