The Provincial Directorate of Transportation of Matanzas applied 24 measures to address the shortage of fuelamong them the total paralysis of inter-municipal and urban transportation and the reduction of the national connection with Havana to a single daily departure.
The railway route to the east of the country maintains its passage through the province every eight days, while a bus to Santiago de Cuba is organized weekly for exceptional cases, mainly for “medical reasons or duly evaluated situations,” as he explained to Giron Roberto Bernal Villena, provincial director of Transportation.
In the provincial capital, only a panoramic bus circulates irregularly on the Ecil-Canímar route and an articulated bus intended for the transfer of health workers between Canímar and the Faustino Pérez hospital, which admits passengers on that route, the report states.
As a complementary measure, it was ordered that all state vehicles pick up people at stops, under supervision at four high-traffic points. Around 25 electric tricycles also operate in Matanzas and Cárdenas, with the possibility of adding other private ones, out of a total of approximately 120 registered in the territory.
The plan prioritizes health services, maintaining the transfer of nurses every third day, Medibus trips to Havana three times a week and two TaxiCuba buses for Pediatric Oncology patients twice a week, in addition to the weekly sending of medical specialists to communities such as Unión de Reyes.
Relocated tourism workers
A week ago, given the difficulties of transportation from rural areas to tourist centers, the authorities in that province announced a relocation of tourism workers to other vacant positions in the municipalities, a direct consequence of the oil blockade from the United States to the island.
Due to the impossibility of traveling from the most distant territories to the Hicacos Peninsula or to the main municipality, the municipal labor directorates are evaluating several job offers for them, a report from Giron.
At the beginning of February, the Cuban Government began to close some hotels and transfer tourists to other facilities as part of the package of measures adopted in response to the oil siege.
Readjustments throughout the country
In the middle of this month, the Ministry of Transportation adjusted the national passenger and freight schedule due to limitations in fuel supply.
“It’s going to get worse.” Transportation crisis after the oil blockade of Cuba
The National Bus Company operates only one daily departure between Havana and each provincial capital, in addition to Manzanillo, while Pinar del Río maintains two daily frequencies and Baracoa travels on alternate days, both from the capital.
As for the national railway, it has since extended the frequency of its trains to Bayamo/Manzanillo, Holguín, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo from four to eight days, while the rest of the local and interprovincial services are suspended. as reported by Minister Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila in your official account Facebook.
The waiting lists and Last Minute terminals are also paralyzed, and at the territorial level, the authorities have since prioritized sectors such as Health and Education.
The new offensive by the United States, with warnings of imposing tariffs on nations that export crude oil to Cuba, adds pressure to an economy that has suffered six years of deep contraction.
The impact translates into greater difficulties in guaranteeing basic supplies and sustaining productive activity on the island.
Faced with this scenario, the authorities activated an adjustment plan that includes cuts in public transportation and stricter fuel rationing. The restriction has further strained the informal supply, where gasoline and diesel prices have increased steadily.
