Cuba has denied any connection to 90 fuel shipments that United States authorities said they intercepted en route to the blockaded communist island, according to statements made Wednesday.
US authorities announced they had intercepted 90 shipments of fuel bound for Enetec, a Cuban company that Washington sanctioned on July 13. The shipments were destined for the Cuban government, Jose Figueroa of the US Department of Homeland Security's investigative office said at a Miami press conference.
The intercepted biodiesel shipments were valued at nearly 3 million dollars and were part of contracts involving Enetec, a state-owned Cuban energy trading company operating under US sanctions. US officials characterized the shipments as illegal fuel deliveries to the island.
Cuba's Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy told reporters that "Cuba has nothing to do" with the delivery. In an exclusive interview with Reuters at his office in Havana, de la O Levy stated: "We can assure you that there was no kind of contract with Enetec S.A." He added that no Cuban state company had managed to secure a contract for fuel, whether in small or large quantities.
Washington imposed a de facto energy blockade on Cuba in January, threatening to sanction any country that supplies fuel to the island of 9.4 million people. Since January, the United States has threatened sanctions against countries supplying fuel to Cuba, plunging the nation into a deep economic and energy crisis.