00:00A Russian oil tanker carrying 730,000 barrels of crude has arrived in Cuba,
00:06marking the first oil delivery the Caribbean island has received in three months.
00:11The island nation has been a target of the Trump administration since Washington's stunning intervention in Venezuela early in January,
00:19which saw the capture of President Nicolas Maduro.
00:22Trump accused Havana of providing personnel to secure Maduro's alleged narco-trafficking operations in exchange for oil and money
00:30and move to cut off all crude supplies and place sanctions against sales to Cuba.
00:36The White House says the shipment was allowed to address humanitarian issues.
00:40This is not a policy change. There has not been a formal change in sanction policy.
00:46As the president said last night, we allowed this ship to reach Cuba in order to provide humanitarian needs to
00:52the Cuban people.
00:53These decisions are being made on a case-by-case basis.
00:56As the administration has said, Cuba's non-functional economy cannot be fixed unless they undergo dramatic political and leadership change.
01:04But there has been no formal change with respect to sanction policy.
01:08Officials in Cuba say the embargo has led to a near-total collapse of the country's medical sector,
01:13impacted manufacturing industries, and energy services.
01:17The island has been grappling with long blackouts, severe shortages of food and critical medicine.
01:24Humanitarian organizations say much more oil needs to be delivered to Cuba to alleviate the unfolding humanitarian crisis.
Comments