Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 26th, 2026

[Carolina Barrero Ferrer]

[Witness spoke in Spanish, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you.

I'd like to respond to the question very clearly. The answer is no. American sanctions are not the cause of the humanitarian crisis. I will explain why.

First, there is no blockade. It hasn't existed in those 67 years. What we have is a series of sanctions that are rather complex, but the only thing they affect is the capacity of the regime to ask for funding from North American banks. Why would the Cuban regime want to ask for funding from the banks of imperialism?

Nevertheless, Cuba buys food and medicine from the United States. The United States is number five in terms of trade with Cuba for food.

May I conclude, please?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

We are out of time.

[Carolina Barrero Ferrer]

[Witness spoke in Spanish, interpreted as follows:]

We're out of time. I will be interrupted. I can't conclude my answer.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you.

We'll go next to MP Cobena. You have five minutes.

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you.

[Member spoke in Spanish, interpreted as follows:]

First, I'd like to thank all of the witnesses, including Carolina. I understand that it must be very difficult to speak about the difficulties your country is going through right now.

Before I begin my questions, I'd like to give Carolina the opportunity to conclude her answer to the previous question.

[Carolina Barrero Ferrer]

[Witness spoke in Spanish, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you. It's very kind of you.

It's not just the fifth-largest exporter of food and medicine. It has—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

I'm sorry to interrupt.

If you can slow down your pace just for the benefit of the interpreters, that would be helpful. Thank you.

[Carolina Barrero Ferrer]

[Witness spoke in Spanish, interpreted as follows:]

Yes, with pleasure, if I'm not interrupted. I wasn't sure how to proceed. Thank you.

I have another question. Would any of you call into question the sanctions that European countries have put in place against Vladimir Putin or Lukashenko in Belarus? Why exempt the Cuban military and those responsible for human rights violations, those who are allies with Putin, who have sent mercenaries to the war? Why let them off the hook? Why not sanction them?

There are Magnitsky individual sanctions that could be applied and are used around the world. Why exempt Cubans from that? Is it taboo?

That's my answer. Thank you very much.

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

[Member spoke in Spanish, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you, Carolina.

In one minute, could you share with the committee a clear vision of the humanitarian situation currently in Cuba, especially in terms of access to food, medicine, electricity and basic public services? How have those conditions evolved in the past few years?

[Carolina Barrero Ferrer]

[Witness spoke in Spanish, interpreted as follows:]

Yes, the crisis in Cuba is comparable only to that in Haiti. In Cuba, nothing is working. Services aren't provided to the public. There is no education, health or transportation. Cities are not working. The only thing working is oppression.

To give you an idea, if a person has a heart attack and calls an ambulance, the ambulance will maybe arrive in eight hours, or maybe not at all. If you complain, have a protest or call for freedom, or say “Down with the dictatorship” in the street, four patrol cars will be at your door within 15 minutes, and you will be a prisoner. There's gas for that. Services are available for that. This is a country where the only thing working is oppression. Citizens don't have the right to complain.

A Facebook post can have you end up in prison. That has happened with youth, currently. The only thing the regime does is present itself as a victim. It's not accountable to citizens. It doesn't take on its responsibilities.

On the poor management, it's more than inefficiency. It's about the priorities they've set. They've prioritized other things, not taking care of the people. They keep asking for help to continue justifying themselves, to enrich themselves, because this is a regime that is very corrupt. There is evidence that they have stolen humanitarian aid.

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

[Member spoke in Spanish, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you, Carolina.

Can you share what caused the current humanitarian crisis in Cuba?

[Carolina Barrero Ferrer]

[Witness spoke in Spanish, interpreted as follows:]

Yes. As I was saying, it's more than a crisis. It's systemic. It's part of the structure. What's happening now is caused by the essence of the Castro regime over 60 years. If you didn't take care of the power plants for 30 years, the components can't be repaired, because those components aren't sold anymore. Since the 1980s, a lot of this electricity system wasn't maintained—although they were building hotels—because they were not interested. That wasn't the regime's priority.

This is the end of a crisis due to structural conditions. Humanitarian aid is just like a band-aid: It might provide a bit of relief, but we need to look at the roots of the suffering of the Cuban people. You have to look at the cause, which is the nature of the regime.

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

[Member spoke in Spanish, interpreted as follows:]

Recently, Canada committed to provide $18.3 million in assistance to Cuba. Based on past experience, how is aid usually distributed within the country?

[Carolina Barrero Ferrer]

[Witness spoke in Spanish, interpreted as follows:]

It's distributed through organizations like UNICEF, the Red Cross and other programs. These organizations are established around the world and have accountability structures that have been proven to work with organizations of the Cuban state. Those organizations respond to the Cuban regime, to the Castro family, and they end up redistributing that aid through other channels that are difficult to hold accountable.

We have had a lot of reports that we can send to you. The aid ends up being resold, even to hotels, and it doesn't reach the population. Our suggestion is that you use the church Caritas and religious institutions that have the same capacity to be accountable internationally. They've shown that when they receive aid on the ground, UNICEF or the Red Cross don't have the capacity to reach people, not in Cuba anyway. It has to be done through organizations on the ground. When it's been done with the church, it has worked.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you very much.

We next go to MP Vandenbeld.

You have five minutes.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Thank you very much.

I want to thank both witnesses for the work that you're doing and for your testimony today.

We all have constituents who are writing to us, and we're seeing the images coming out of Cuba. There is tremendous concern to help the people of Cuba and to provide some humanitarian assistance, as our government announced yesterday.

I'm very interested in how Canada can use our assistance both in terms of long-term stability and helping the actual Cuban people, but also as leverage in order to get the sort of economic and governance reforms that you were talking about.

I've worked with UN agencies, and to reassure you, Canadian aid typically isn't in goods or cash. Often, it will be the World Food Programme that will work with communities directly, with women, to help them purchase agricultural goods, have them cook the goods and then be able to distribute them. We want to make sure our aid gets to the right place. I think that's what all of us want. We heard this week from our own officials that often it's going to things like renewable energy locally, or it's going to increasing yields for women who are agricultural producers and things like that.

I don't want to send a message that we shouldn't be sending aid, but how do we turn that around and use that to get the kinds of reforms and desirable outcomes that we're all looking for?

[Kirenia Carbonell]

Thank you for the question.

I would also like to express appreciation for every Canadian who is worried about the situation in Cuba. A lot of our friends of over 20 and 30 years are also worried. Cuban Canadians are worried too, because even if we wanted to help our families, we have no way right now to do so.

That aside, I would like to highlight that we are not saying not to send aid, and we are not saying not to co-operate with people on the ground. We do understand Canada is principled when it comes to assisting in humanitarian crises. That's not what we are saying. What we are saying is that although the regime representative came to this floor and said the things that he said, we recommend that this committee not take that at face value, because they will paint a picture that they have used those funds to construct this and to construct that. Please do not believe that.

The same afternoon he was saying that the regime in Cuba supports peace, there was a UN resolution being voted on, and while he was telling this chamber that the regime supports peace, they were voting “no” to the UN resolution for peace in Ukraine.

They go to the United Nations and they tell the United Nations that compulsory military service in Cuba for teenagers is not mandatory, but it is mandatory. In Holguín, there are nine young people who lost their lives because they sent teenagers to handle live ordnance, and it blew up. Instead of recovering the bodies or asking Canada for assistance in recovering the bodies, they poured cement where those poor souls were blown up. Do not take what they say as the truth.

We won't reveal names here for their protection, but we can share with the committee via separate correspondence the names and the points of contact throughout Cuba, in many provinces, except Havana, where Caritas has so much help already that they have a human resources gap in distributing that help. They were honest with us last week and said, “Even if you send us help right now, we cannot distribute it, because we have so much to distribute,” which is music to our ears.

Should Canada like to distribute aid directly to the people, we are putting our hands up to help coordinate that distribution so it reaches good ports.

Thank you.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Ms. Barrero Ferrer, please go ahead.

[Carolina Barrero Ferrer]

[Witness spoke in Spanish, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you very much.

I would say the same thing. We have a humanitarian assistance program at Ciudadanía y Libertad, and we sent one tonne of humanitarian assistance to Cuba. It's not a lot in the spectrum of humanitarian aid internationally, but for us it was a success, because we do not want to abandon the Cubans who are on the island. We also help 50 families of political prisoners on a regular basis.

We're not saying to not send assistance, because we do it as an organization as well. What we're saying is that we recommend either that you go through civil society to send your assistance, or, if civil society can't do it, that you do it through faith-based organizations or a combination of the two. Those are the channels that are proven to make sure the aid gets to the people.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Brunelle‑Duceppe, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Barrero Ferrer, are you in contact with the American authorities to coordinate actions aimed at changing the current regime?

[Carolina Barrero Ferrer]

[Witness spoke in Spanish, interpreted as follows:]

I have contact with governments all over the world, including European governments. I've been to a number of countries, and I have been welcomed at the U.S. Department of State, but I do not believe in violent action to overturn my country's regime. I do work with a great deal of honour to make sure my country becomes a democratic country, so I have alliances with democratic countries throughout the world. That has been the case under tyrannies throughout history, and I feel honoured to play the role I play.

[French]

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you very much for that answer.

My question is quite simple: Isn’t there a double standard when we are rightly concerned about human rights in Cuba at the moment?

Clearly, the current regime is violating several international human rights: freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and above all, democratic freedom. But isn’t there a double standard when we express concern and denounce these actions, but do not denounce the American embargo that has been in place for 66 years and which, unfortunately, has a direct impact on the population?

I am not someone who shares the political ideals of the current regime, not at all. However, I am concerned about the people there. I have been to Cuba several times and even had the opportunity to work there. So I know people who are currently suffering, and what concerns me is the health of the people and the fact that they are currently experiencing a humanitarian crisis.

Ms. Carbonell, perhaps you could answer this question: Isn’t there a double standard when it comes to the embargo and denouncing the Cuban regime’s human rights violations?

[Kirenia Carbonell]

We should talk about the embargo. We could have, maybe, a different session altogether about the embargo. However, when we talk about the embargo, it is important to say the context of how it came about. On top of that, and more than that, it's important to say that the embargo could end tomorrow, should the regime wish it.

Therefore, in Canada, we talk about the embargo, and it's almost like a reflex that we go there. However, we never say that Canada created a law in the 1970s whose only purpose was to circumvent the embargo. Cuba does commerce with the world. Why should we waste time talking about the external sanctions of another nation when the main issue is that we have a system in Cuba that does not allow for different political parties and that does not allow free elections?

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

When the United States threatens third countries such as Canada, Spain or Mexico with sanctions if they help supply oil to Cuba, it concerns me. Normally, when you have a direct bilateral relationship like Canada has with Cuba, you should not be sanctioned by another country, namely the United States, for shipping oil, for example.

I would like to know your position on this issue because it affects us. The United States is threatening Canada if it sends oil or kerosene to Cuba. Don’t you see this as a problem in the United States’ foreign policy toward Canada?