In a single quarter, the Aztec country sent to Cuba more than triple what was reported by the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) for the two years prior to Claudia Sheinbaum’s government.
CDMX, Mexico. – Between May and August 2025, the value of hydrocarbons sent by Mexico to Cuba exceeded 3,000 million dollars, more than triple what was reported by the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) for the two years prior to the start of the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum, according to official data collated by the project. Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI).
In these operations the Cuban oilman Sandino participated*, included since 2019 on the sanctions list of the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
According to the monthly breakdown cited by MCCIin May a shipment of 24.6 million dollars was recorded; in June, 38 shipments for 826 million; in July, 11 for 1,425 million, and in August, 8 for 726.7 million. In total, 58 shipments in four months, mainly from the port of Coatzacoalcos (Veracruz) and three from Tampico (Tamaulipas).
All shipments—in this administration and the previous one—were carried out by Gasolinas Bienestar, SA de CV, a subsidiary of PEMEX created in 2022 to send fuels to the Island. The state-owned Coreydan, SA is mainly the importer in Cuba. In three operations, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs appears as the importer. Declared products include crude oil and derivatives identified as jet fuel, diesel/gasoil and gasoline.
MCCI documents that the Sandino set sail on August 20 from the terminal that Pemex operates in Laguna de Pajaritos (Coatzacoalcos) and arrived seven days later at the “Camilo Cienfuegos” refinery, located in Cienfuegos. Maritime traffic traces reviewed by the organization show that the ship had left Havana on June 21, arrived in Coatzacoalcos in July — where it remained anchored for several weeks — and then returned to Cuba already loaded.
The note recalls that OFAC sanctioned Sandino on September 24, 2019 for transporting oil from Venezuela to Cuba and warns that carrying out transactions with actors on the “black list” exposes one to economic, financial and diplomatic sanctions.
Another vessel highlighted by the investigation is the Ocean Mariner (flag of Liberia), with multiple Mexico-Cuba trips between May 23 and September 18. He left Tampico for Santiago de Cuba (June 2), then sailed to Jamaica and returned to Tampico (June 19); Later he moved to Coatzacoalcos and on July 22 he left for Havana (arriving on the 27th, at the “Ñico López” refinery terminal). After passing through Moa, he returned to Coatzacoalcos on August 9 and on September 5 he set sail again for Moa; On September 18, he continued towards Cienfuegos.
The recent increase expands what MCCI had already reported on August 16: from May to June, 39 shipments were registered for more than 850 million dollars. The organization now adds that, in July and August alone, there were 19 shipments for 2,151.7 million dollars.
The investigation also relates these shipments to the financial deterioration of the subsidiary in charge: “Gasolinas Bienestar” reported losses in its first year and a debt of some 324 million dollars associated with the fuel “gifted” to Cuba, a liability that MCCI He had already warned on February 25.
To measure the fiscal impact, the investigative journalism project compares the 3,000 million dollars (about 60,000 million Mexican pesos) in subsidized fuel sent to Cuba this year with the federal budget projected for 2026 of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (60,100 million pesos), and points out that they quadruple both the budget for investigation and prosecution of crimes of the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic and the resources of the Fund. Multiple Contributions for basic educational infrastructure.
* El Sandino (IMO 9441178) was Panamanian at least until 2019. Today it appears with the Cuban flag.
