Havana/A first batch of 10 new generation Moskvitch cars donated by the Moscow government began circulating this week in Havana. These vehicles arrived six months after the mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin, promised to send 50 of these cars to the Island, during the visit of Miguel Díaz-Canellast May.
At the reception of the fleet of cars last Friday, with which the Kremlin seeks to help alleviate the transportation disaster on the Island, the governor of the Cuban capital, Yanet Hernández, reported that the cars will be used for Maternal and Child Care programs and for logistical support of the health and education systems in the capital. However, profiles such as La Tijera indicated that they will be delivered to hospital directors.
The delivery, presented by the official press as a gesture of “solidarity and brotherhood”, in the midst of the worst collapse of state infrastructure that the capital has experienced in decades, also served as an act of Russian propaganda. According to Prensa Latina, the first counselor of the diplomatic mission in Havana, Sergei Pakhomenko, recalled that the donation “is framed in the context of the 80th anniversary of the victory against fascism and the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between both countries.”
The new version of the Moskvitch “reflects the advances of the Russian automotive industry and the country’s economic development”
At the same event, the counselor of the Russian embassy, Vitaly Sprinchan, took the opportunity to highlight that the new version of the Moskvitch “reflects the advances of the Russian automotive industry and the economic development of the country,” and added that products made in Russia “are in high demand in Cuba, evidenced by the diversity of well-preserved models that still circulate on the streets of the Island.”
The new Moskvitch – of which it was not specified whether they are fuel or electric (there will be a total of 25 and 25) – will be found in their old version, one of the cars with the most presence on Cuban streets, along with the Lada and the Volga, authentic relics from the time of Soviet subsidies, although this new version has a modern Chinese design, after Russia stopped producing them for two decades and resumed production in 2022.
Even if the fleet is complete they will face problems, since there is a shortage of fuelon the one hand, and most of the day there is no current to complete the charging of cars that are electric, on the other. Not even Havana is spared from blackouts of at least eight hours.
The most recent example of this crisis is recorded in Guanajay, where the work of the Caisa Bus Production Company has been strongly affected by the constant electricity outages. This situation has caused, according to a note published by The Artemiseño This Friday, the only bus assembler in Cuba cannot advance in the work of repairing buses in Havana, despite having recently received a large donation of parts and pieces from the Chinese government. Without specifying in detail the number of stopped vehicles, the media reports that there were at least a hundred buses waiting to be repaired for several months.
Not even Havana is spared from blackouts of at least eight hours
During the announcement of the donation by Moscow last May, it was indicated that, from shipping to maintenance, through the installation of charging infrastructure and even the training of mechanics and drivers – in Russia at the beginning, and later remotely –, everything would be borne by the Kremlin, which has created a joint company with the Island to manage the taxi fleet. Faced with the inability of the Cuban economy to keep even its own fleet standing, it will be Russia that guarantees “the uninterrupted operation of electric vehicles,” it was said during Díaz-Canel’s visit to the factory in Moscow, who left that day with a gift voucher for 10 Moskvitch 6.
In terms of transportation, Cuba depends almost exclusively on what other countries are able to donate and on companies that are willing to import vehicles. One of the proofs of this absolute lack of funds and resources is the new modality implemented last January by Salud Pública and MVC Comercial, an importer of vehicles for both state companies and for private.
Months before, the press announced that the institution would begin renting the ambulances imported by MVCfrom the German brand Mercedes-Benz, instead of purchasing their own transportation. About 60 days after testing the service, Granma He assured that the results were promising: as he said, the response time of the emergency system, for example, was reduced from 31 minutes, in 2024, to 18, and those of emergencies, from 43 to 16.
