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Cuba receives 15,000-tonne shipment of rice donated by China
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this post was submitted on 25 May 2026
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This is genius.
Cuba's population is about 10.9 million. That means, if my math is right, this shipment has about 2.75 lbs of rice per Cuban citizen. That's a LOT of rice- about 10-12 servings per person. And there's another 3 similar shipments coming.
This is not some useless token, this is a 'feed the country for a week or two' type gift.
You can bet your sweet ass that neither the people nor the government of Cuba are likely to forget this anytime soon. The 'gentle giant' USA is choking them, China feeds them. It's a powerful message.
Of course it's China so there's always a price eventually. I suspect Beijing's goal here is additional influence within Cuba, and I don't see any reason why Cuba would have any objection. A few boatloads of rice gets you a LOT of good will in a starving country.
China’s price for foreign aid is almost always lower than Western capitalists’. It’s why their belts and roads initiative and BRICS have been so insanely successful.
More usefully- their price will likely be something Cuba is happy to do. IE, access to sell Chinese goods in Cuba? Hell yes bring them in bring our people up to modern standards. Set up a base somewhere? Of course Cuba is neutral between US and China, we lease space to US we can lease space to China too. China becomes Cuba's primary trade partner? Hell yes sign us up US sure isn't trading with us...
And let's not forget China is already selling Cuba a ton of solar power tech. For a nation like Cuba that's a godsend, because it reduces their reliance on foreign oil.
Not just. ~~Persuade Nicaragua again to build a new shipping canal wider than Panama.~~ Ortega wants China to fund his megaproject.
There’s always a price, but that’s true whether the donation comes from China, the US, or most other world powers.
My family is from the Caribbean. They seem to feel that it’s better to work with China or India on infrastructure, as they help with building and get paid back via ownership or land leases. Working with the US is difficult, as it’s hard for a nation with little access to USD to be able pay back a loan - they basically get blamed for being poor despite the US having performed the ultimate grift in making their dollar the global currency.
Working with the US has made even more difficult by the fact that the US seems determined to keep them under embargo, even though it's seriously questionable whether the embargo serves any useful purpose anymore. So even if they wanted to work with the US it would probably involve a bunch of useless ass kissing and we probably make the oil refineries back.
Bottom line it's an awful lot of harm for not very much. Should have been ended decades ago
Indeed and right in the backyard of the USA. The Batista supporters in the US can go f-themselves for screwing over their own people.
Gentle giant? The United States is a capitalist enemy.
That's sarcasm.
With a collossal oppressive empire like the US at their doorstep demanding full submission, the Cubans are likely very happy to have any alternative. At least Chinese agreements usually benefit both sides instead of "surrender your country or we will kidnap your president".
I think it's more of a way to keep people in line and oppressed. The government is already insanely impressive and now you want food? Well you better stay in line.
If China actually cared they'd send agriculture equipment so they can produce their own food for sustainability. But they don't want that, they want to keep them sucking the teet every month. If you don't, well the last shipment might just be late....
Cuba doesn’t need agricultural equipment, it needs oil, which the US is preventing it from getting. Since China doesn’t have oil, it is massively building out Cuba’s solar capacity. In the meantime, they are delivering life-sustaining shipments of food.
You seem to be very misinformed about which governments are helping the Cuban people, and which are harming. Cuba wouldn’t need any of this help without US sanctions.
(And ironically, the situation you are describing aligns almost precisely with how USAID functioned before Trump destroyed it.)
This exactly. Cuba has cars and farm equipment but it doesn't have the fuel to run them.
The solar tech China is sending Cuba will probably be their most valuable trade. Every bit of Cuba that no longer relies on US-controlled foreign oil is a godsend to Cuba. A car that charges on solar power is energy independence for them.
(would be for the US too but we're not under sanctions and we've got enough gas to ignore that small truth).
People who are starving right now due to economic terrorism can't wait for next season's harvest to eat.
China could send basically a 'farm in a box' (equipment, seeds, fertilizer, instructions) and even if it was wildly successful you don't get food out of that for 3-12 months. Cuba needs food NOW.
Cuba also needs energy a lot more than farm equipment...
They have agricultural equipment already. They can't operate it because the US is blockading oil shipments.