Havanna/Buenos Aires. The Cuban airline Cubana de Aviación has to stop the direct connection between Havana and Buenos Aires, which has existed for almost 40 years. The reason for this is the refusal of the Argentine state oil company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF) to continue supplying fuel to Cubana aircraft.
As the Argentine daily newspaper “Página 12” reports, fuel has no longer been distributed to Cuban aircraft since the end of April. The airline itself spoke from an “abrupt” attitude. Return flights to Cuba that have already been booked could be rebooked to other airlines.
The Cuban Foreign Ministry wrote in a statement on April 30 about the occurrence of “absurd and anachronistic measures” as part of the US blockade against Cuba by the right-wing libertarian Argentine government under President Javier Milei. “It is contradictory to proclaim freedom at any cost while restricting the freedom of a company that strictly complies with the regulations of Argentina and the International Civil Aviation Organization,” the communiqué said.
When contacted by the Reuters news agency, YPF declined to comment.
As the ministry emphasizes, Cuban aviation has been suffering from the consequences of sanctions for some time. Numerous Cubana aircraft leases, bank accounts and loans were terminated due to the tightened financial sanctions against the socialist island under former US President Donald Trump. In addition, even before these tightening measures, Cuba was fundamentally unable to access spare parts that contained more than ten percent US components.
Cuba will “continue to denounce such extraterritorial uses of the US blockade, which constitute a violation of international law and are overwhelmingly rejected by the international community,” the State Department said.