Louise MacKinnon and her family have become accustomed to visiting Cuba in March, but plans to return this year fell through when Canadian carriers were forced to suspend service to the island due to a fuel shortage caused by the U.S. oil blockade.
But for the MacKinnons, the cancelled trip meant more than simply escaping winter, but also visiting friends on the island and, importantly, taking down gifts of much-needed essential products that Cubans can’t readily find or afford.
“I can tell you that right now, in the area of Matanzas, they get three hours of power, six hours off and it cycles like that, often off more than the six hours,” the Goose River, PEI, resident said.
Her Cuban friends are dealing with issues like difficulties in getting medicine for their children along with frequent power cuts.
And with tourism crashing, more people are out of work, she noted.
MacKinnon’s first visit was just a vacation, but she learned about the situation in Cuba after making friends with some of the resort workers. In 2025, she took some essential products that Cuban people could not access.
“I had done a bit of research and learned that the people there could use items like eyeglasses and hygiene products,” MacKinnon said.
She put out a call on social media and people dropped off items.
In addition to the eyeglasses, 25 hygiene kits were collected. They included hand sewn bags with washable and reusable menstrual pads, which her daughters distributed around the resort to staff. The eyeglasses were taken to a local orphanage and senior’s home with the help of a resort staff member who volunteered to take the essential items to those in need.
For this year’s visit, MacKinnon had already collected more eyeglasses and hearing aids as well.
She hopes to take them next year and is very disappointed at not being able to get gifts for them this year.
“There’s no telling how long this is going to be in place. It just adds to the suffering of an already vulnerable society,” she added.
Global Affairs Canada has warned travellers for more than a year of “shortages of basic necessities, including food, medicine and fuel,” across most of Cuba.
And according to the UN, essential institutions like schools and hospitals are having a hard time operating with full capacity.
In early 2026 the U.S. announced it was stopping countries like Venezuela and Mexico from supplying oil to Cuba, tightening the blockade, which has been in place since the early 1960s.
The move was condemned by the UN on Feb. 12, with the organization stating it violates UN Charter Article 2(1).
“A democratic international order cannot be reconciled with practices whereby one state claims the authority to dictate the internal policies and economic relations of others through threats and coercion,” the statement said.
When MacKinnon landed in Cuba during that first trip she could see crumbling infrastructure, buildings in ruins, poverty everywhere and people living in encampments.
“In Varadero City, there are some nice homes and restaurants and other businesses and wonderful artisan shops,” she said.
It was a humbling experience for her to go to a country that loves to welcome people’s warmth and treat them like family, and they also deserve to be treated well by tourists, she added.
Big or small, any kind of help makes a difference to the people, and she hopes the blockade will be lifted soon. “In the meantime, pray for Cuba,” she said.
In the meantime, she pointed to the Ontario-based Together for Cuba, a non-profit that aids orphans and organizes medical donations to various hospitals and clinics, as another way for people to help the citizens of the island country in the Caribbean.
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