HAVANA, May 1 (Reuters) - Argentina's YPF will not provide fuel to Cuban airline Cubana, Cuba's foreign ministry said late on Tuesday, prompting the state-run carrier to shut down a route run between Havana and Buenos Aires for nearly four decades.
Cuba said in April it had been forced to cancel some of its flights to Buenos Aires amid a dispute over fuel supply, but on Tuesday said it had failed to strike a deal with Argentina's YPF and high level officials to resolve the issue.
"As a result, Cubana de Aviación has been forced to suspend regular flights between Cuba and Argentina, which had been maintained for 39 years," Cuba's foreign ministry said in a statement.
A source from Argentina's Ministry of Transportation told Reuters that a meeting took place on Friday and that, although it was outside the ministry's powers to resolve the conflict, "current regulations were evaluated with the company due to this situation to see if there were possibilities to (resolve) the issue".
YPF declined to comment on the issue.
Cuba's foreign ministry said in its statement Argentine officials had cited the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba in defending the move, an interpretation Cuba says is in violation of both Argentine and international law.
"The application of anachronistic and absurd restrictions to a Cuban company is a tangible demonstration of the devastating effects of the blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba," Cuba's foreign ministry said.
The U.S. trade embargo against Cuba was put in place following Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.
The web of U.S. laws and regulations complicate financial transactions and the acquisition of goods and services by the Cuban government, while also raising risks for some foreign companies who trade with Cuba.
The conflict suggests cooling relations between the government of Argentina's president Javier Milei, a far-right libertarian, and communist-run Cuba.
Cubana's long-standing flights between Havana and Buenos Aires ran largely unfettered despite the sanctions under the administration of Argentina`s leftist former president Alberto Fernandez, who maintained close ties with Cuba.
But Milei, who took office on Dec. 10, is unabashedly pro-United States and has taken a cooler stance towards leftist trade partners in the region and overseas, including Brazil and China. (Reporting by Dave Sherwood in Havana; Additional reporting by Maximilian Heath in Buenos Aires; Editing by Mark Potter)
