Cuba aid stalled by US sanctions fears, UN warns

Humanitarian aid for Cuba is being delayed or diverted because shipping, insurance and financial firms fear US sanctions, the top United Nations official on the island warned.

Francisco Pichon, the UN resident coordinator in Cuba, said a climate of fear among companies had led to “overcompliance,” forcing aid agencies to reroute cargo and delaying deliveries intended for hospitals and schools.

“They respond to the risk of sanctions by simply withdrawing from providing those services,” Pichon said.

He said one recent delivery of medicine used to treat childhood cancer failed to arrive because refrigerated transport could not be secured in time. He also cited reproductive-health kits for pregnant women that were returned to suppliers and containers carrying medicines and school materials that were diverted rather than shipped on to Cuba.

Washington has threatened sanctions on companies doing business with Cuba's government. Only one fuel tanker is known to have arrived in Cuba in the last seven months, although limited private sales of fuel tanks from the United States have risen.

“What initially affected the most vulnerable groups is now affecting the population much more broadly,” Pichon said.

Cuban government data show the crisis is accelerating. Infant deaths are believed to have more than doubled, while survival rates among children with cancer have fallen from 85 percent to 65 percent.

The UN says around 3.5 million people face disruptions to drinking water supplies, while about one million depend on deliveries by tanker trucks because pumping systems lack sufficient fuel and electricity.

Pichon said the crisis is affecting the UN's own relief effort, which has had to rely on increasingly scarce fuel obtained through private channels. With the Caribbean hurricane season under way, UN officials are concerned about the vulnerability of water and sanitation systems and the risk of disease outbreaks.

“What we are seeing is that humanitarian risks are being translated into humanitarian impacts,” Pichon said, warning that conditions had continued to deteriorate in recent months.