Like gatekeepers, the workers of the service center of the El Túnel service center near 31 avenue in Playa, Havana, this Friday checked the sheet metal of the vehicles that stopped in the long queue to fill their fuel tanks. The drivers who did not pass the scrutiny demanded, in vain, an explanation. Sharply, the workers blurted out: “Only for K!”.
In the symbology of license plates on the Island, the letter K designates two types of vehicles: cars owned by foreigners with temporary residence –with a completely white plate– and those of companies or legal entities, provided they are accompanied by a blue band with the word Cuba on the left.
“If you don’t have the K, you have to see if you can solve it with a letter of authorization from a ministry, but it’s not enough: the ministry also has to call Cupet to verify,” he explained to 14ymedio a foreigner resident in Cuba and worker of a MSME. He arrived driving with some confusion, he confesses, and since his license plate begins with the letter W – reserved since 2022 for religious vehicles, cooperatives and forms of non-state management – they prevented him from buying gasoline, despite having a ministerial document.
“They told me that, if the ministry really gave me authorization, to call them. But no one answers and I will have to leave without charging,” he laments.
Not because of selectiveness, the queue is no longer kilometric. It would have had twice as many cars at the service center on 42nd Street, where diplomats accredited in Havana also go, whose license plate bears the letters C, D and E. “The embassies complained about the number of people who were going to queue “explains the driver, “and as a result they sent all the cars with K plates here.”
A pipe from the company Unión Cuba Petróleo (Cupet) was seen hours before at the 31 service center, unloading fuel. Immediately, dozens of vehicles were bottled up in the vicinity of the station. At noon, the queue – made up of new machines and good brands – was more or less orderly, but drivers with private license plates continued to arrive, confident that they had found the oasis in the desert.
Scowling and cursing, the P license plates walked away from the scene. “K and more K: gasoline only for foreigners,” they said, imitating the laconicism of the service center workers. “Even for cars, the Revolution has its priorities well distributed.”
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