Madrid/The decision of the US Government to sanction the state company Unión Cuba-Petróleo (Cupet) has forced the company Vanguard Energy to suspend the shipment of 250,000 barrels that it had announced this week.
“Recent US government actions affecting Cuban state entities have created operational restrictions out of Vanguard’s control that now impact the ability to structure any future tanker fuel deliveries,” Vanguard President Matthew Klann said in a statement. statement released this Friday.
The Florida-based company had announced on Tuesday your intention to rent storage tanks in Cuba to “an entity linked to the Government” (Cupet) for the distribution of fuel to humanitarian groups, embassies and private clients.
Since the end of January, when Washington authorized the sale of diesel and gasoline to the Cuban private sector while prohibiting the arrival of tankers to the Island, Vanguard has developed the marketing of isotanks (tankers) of just over 20,000 liters destined for non-state companies. The cargo that the company intended to send to Cuba on a ship is equivalent to more than 1,800 isotanks.
“Recent US government actions affecting Cuban state entities have created operational restrictions outside of Vanguard’s control”
The announcement of the agreement with a US company to deliver the largest load of fuel since 1960 sparked numerous adverse reactions, especially because there was already evidence of the diversion of the contents of the isotanks to the Cuban State, as documented 14ymedio with photos and videos taken at Cupet gas stations.
Vanguard assured in the statement that it has not carried out any commercial exchange with Cuba not authorized by the US Government, nor has it violated Washington sanctions, export control or trade regulations.
The company also reported that the Miami-Dade tax collector, Dariel Fernández, returned to Vanguard the local permit to operate that had been temporarily revoked following the Cupet sanctions.
Fernández, there was Vanguard’s tax license withdrawn after reports of Miami Herald and Bloombergwhich on Tuesday reported that the company was in “advanced” negotiations to send 100,000 barrels of gasoline and 150,000 barrels of diesel to Cuba “every month or 40 days,” which would cover 11 days of demand.
“Miami-Dade County will not serve as a base of operations for activities that undermine federal law or support the Cuban dictatorship,” Fernández stated in his notice.
“Miami-Dade County will not serve as a base of operations for activities that undermine federal law or support the Cuban dictatorship”
Last Wednesday, a State Department spokesperson stated that “Vanguard Energy has not received any license from the United States for this transaction.” A day later, Cupet was included on the restricted list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac), of the Treasury Department.
The president of Vanguard had declared to the press when announcing the planned shipment: “This would be the first process of this type in Cuba, to demonstrate to both parties that the privatization of the fuel market is the correct way to manage this business.”
According to the statement cited by the Miami Heraldthe agreement had been the result of months of conversations between Vanguard, Cuban authorities and US officials.
Cuba continues to experience its worst energy crisis since 1959, as the Trump Administration increases pressure on the communist regime.
