Mexican fuel cargo for Cuba is sovereign decision, president says

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday asserted Mexico's independence to send fuel as well as food and medical supplies to Cuba, which is grappling with a surge in coronavirus cases.

"We are an independent nation," Lopez Obrador said during his regular morning news conference on Tuesday in response to a question about whether planned fuel deliveries risked contravening an U.S. sanctions regime against the Communist-run island.

He said Cuba was suffering shortages of medical oxygen and needed the fuel to provide electricity to hospitals amid the pandemic.