Havana/Boxes of frozen chicken, containers of wall paint, plumbing parts and countless merchandise are stranded in the port of Mariel, west of Havana, waiting for fuel to appear to move them to the rest of the country. “The truck has not been able to leave Mariel,” responds to his desperate clients Arturo, a specialist in glass and aluminum panels with a load of materials “inside the truck but without gasoline.”
Arturo is what is called “an organized man.” With his name changed for this report, the 48-year-old Havana native has been working in aluminum carpentry in Cuba for more than a decade and recently moved his private business to the MSME category. Known for his efficiency and promptness, now he only has to rely on a miracle to be able to meet the schedule promised to his clients.
“We have everything stopped because the order we had placed with the material we needed to work in the coming months has not managed to leave Mariel.” Until now, Arturo and his colleagues had a work rhythm that only paused the fatigue accumulated in their bodies after installing windows, doors and kitchen shelves. “We have no shortage of orders and we have a reputation for seriousness,” he emphasizes. 14ymedio.
But seriousness is of little use in a country where gasoline has been sold, since this month of February, exclusively in dollars and is rationed to 20 liters per driver. “We bought the capacity within a haul where orders from other MSMEs go, the driver got there and picked up the merchandise but has not been able to load fuel for the return.” According to Arturo, “this has happened to many people, in Mariel the harrows are stopped waiting for something to happen and they can get out of there.”
But seriousness is of little use in a country where gasoline has been sold, since this month of February, exclusively in dollars.
The situation becomes more dramatic with perishable products. “We have several pallets with chicken quarters that we have not been able to get out of there,” the owner of a small market located near the corner of Boyeros and Tulipán in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución tells this newspaper. “The truck driver called us to see if all of us who have hired that refrigerated truck can do some work to get him gasoline, but I don’t have contacts for that,” he laments.
Among the “miracles” that Arturo and the entrepreneur expect is that “some foreign companies that are there [en la Zona Especial de Desarrollo Mariel, ZEDM] sell part of the gasoline they have in reserve to the trucks that have been stranded, at least to make those shipments reach their destination,” says the aluminum. “There are those who bought gasoline in quantities before they rationed it.
Arturo assures that several Chinese companies based in the ZEDM acquired reserves that exceed “40,000 liters of gasoline” before US President Donald Trump signed an executive order that imposes tariffs on countries that sell fuel to the island. “The Chinese had a whiff and several of the companies they have in Mariel acquired their reserves for this moment,” he details.
At the moment, Arturo has had to cancel several jobs because “it is not known when the profiles and glass will be able to arrive in Havana.” Every day that passes you lose money. “There are clients who gave me part of the payment in advance, in foreign currency, so that we could import good quality materials. To those people, how do I explain that everything is put in a container that cannot leave Mariel?”
For the owner of the Plaza market, the lack of fuel already translates into products that have disappeared from her shelves.
For the owner of the Plaza market, the lack of fuel already translates into products that have disappeared from her shelves. “I already have problems with soda crackers, chicken breast and oil,” he describes. The woman, along with other owners of businesses that sell food, have signed contracts with companies that transport the merchandise to the Cuban capital. “They say they can’t do anything because it’s a matter of force majeure.”
When hurricanes hit the Island, it is common for road transportation to suffer and for the argument of a delay “due to force majeure” to spread among drivers and merchants. But this month of February, the winds of any cyclone are not blowing over Cuba. Even low winter temperatures do not justify delays and cancellations in supply. “It’s all about gasoline,” Arturo acknowledges.
If the haul with the raw materials he needs for his facilities finally reaches the Cuban capital, a new odyssey will begin for the entrepreneur. “At that moment we will see how we are going to resolve the transfer of materials for each job, because what we have is a truck and without fuel it will not walk.” To alleviate his despair, Arturo calls every day, up to three times, a relative who lives on the outskirts of Mariel and, from his doorway, overlooks part of the road along which the harrows circulate.
“I have him crazy asking him if he sees movement, but he says the thing is dead, dead.”
