Question 16054 — foreign policy

Summary

Mr. Thomas Portes alerts the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs to the deterioration of the humanitarian, energy and health situation in Cuba, in the context of the strengthening of American measures targeting the island's oil supplies. Since January 29, 2026, the United States has established a system allowing additional customs duties to be imposed on countries directly or indirectly supplying oil in Cuba. This measure is in addition to the economic, commercial and financial embargo applied by the United States for several decades and regularly condemned by the United Nations General Assembly. This decision comes in a regional context marked by a hardening of American policy in Latin America and the Caribbean, a few weeks after the American military operation carried out in Venezuela on January 3, 2026, resulting in the capture and forced transfer to the United States of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. This precedent has raised serious concerns about respect for the sovereignty of States in the region and international law. Cuba's energy situation worsened significantly in the spring of 2026. On May 14, 2026, the Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines indicated that the country no longer had reserves of fuel oil and diesel to power generators supplementing national electricity production. Several neighborhoods in Havana then experienced power cuts of up to 20 to 22 hours per day, in a context already marked by shortages of fuel, food and medicine. This crisis has direct consequences on the civilian population: disruption of the functioning of hospitals, transport difficulties, deterioration of sanitary conditions, hindrance to the conservation of foodstuffs and worsening of the vulnerability of sick, elderly or dependent people. It also concerns French nationals present in Cuba as well as the stability of the Caribbean area, in which France is directly present through its overseas territories. During questions to the Government on May 27, 2026, the Minister Delegate responsible for the Francophonie, international partnerships and French people abroad recalled that France had supported the lifting of sanctions affecting the Cuban people since 1992 and that the French Development Agency had been carrying out cooperation programs in Cuba since 2010. She also indicated that France was putting this subject on the table in European bodies. In this context, he questions him about diplomatic initiatives concrete measures that France intends to take, at the bilateral, European and multilateral level, in order to contribute to the lifting of measures that hinder Cuba's energy and health supplies. He questions him about the data available to the ministry regarding the humanitarian consequences of current shortages, particularly on hospitals, access to medicines, electricity and food supplies. He finally questions her about the measures envisaged to protect French nationals present in Cuba, strengthen health cooperation with the island and prevent the effects of this crisis on the stability of the Caribbean region.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

Timeline

1. 16 June 2026

   Question

   Source: DateQuestion

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

No documents linked.

Sponsors

• Thomas Portes · auteur

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.