Havana/When gasoline was scarce in Havana, there were always those who knew where to find it. Fuel theft is good business in Cuba and the market has never failed. Until now. “People who sell on the left, who in general almost always have, don’t have either,” says Pedro, a clever Havana man who knows where to move, but now states categorically: “Gasline has disappeared.”
The service centers were empty again this weekend, not only of gasoline, but also of applicants to buy it, except for the most recalcitrant, who were reluctant to leave the line in case something arrived. “Being here is for pleasure,” says a private transporter in the queue.
In one of the Cupets reserved for state vehicles, which receive fuel by allocation, they were not delivering either and the drivers were waiting for a pipe to arrive. When asking one of them if there was a way to ‘resolve’ something, the answer was that it was not possible because what they were giving was not even enough for two weeks. “If I sell you something I’ll be stranded.”
/ 14ymedio
Walking through the capital’s gas stations is devastating. The only one that had customers waiting this Sunday was Línea y E, in El Vedado, which sells fuel in dollars. Most of them were modern cars and it was obvious that the owners were wealthy people. Since last year, when some service centers were dollarized in order to obtain foreign currency due to the decline in tourism, these were the only ones where supply was guaranteed. Now it is not always enough, and the prices do not help either. The regular liter costs $1.10 and the special one costs $1.30, paying with prepaid or Classic cards.
“The situation is too complicated,” Pedro insists. “A friend from Matanzas who has a car told me that there, too, the only place where they sell is in the service centers, in dollars, and stop counting, because there is nothing on the street either. He says that it reached 600, but it was lost, and there is nowhere to find it,” he laments.
Suddenly, a man on a motorcycle appears. He says he was able to buy fuel on the leftbecause he couldn’t find any service center, but before that he had to make another trip through the informal market: buy dollars to pay for gasoline.
The oil does not arrive and the roads are narrowed. This Friday everything shook again when the Reuters agency stated that the Government of Mexico is evaluating whether to maintain, reduce or suspend the supply of crude oil to the Island, amid fear of direct retaliation from the United States under the presidency of Donald Trump. Added to this were the statements to Political from sources familiar with an alleged White House plan to resort to the Helms-Burton Act in order to “impose a total blockade of oil imports by Cuba.” “Energy is the key to killing the regime and this will happen in 2026, with a probability of 100%,” said one of the sources.
/ 14ymedio
The reaction in Havana was immediate. Not only did the vice minister of Foreign Affairs speak, Carlos Fernández de Cossíowhich denounced on Friday a “brutal assault against a peaceful nation that does not represent any threat to the United States” and said that these measures are irrefutable proof that the economic shortcomings faced by the Cuban people are mainly caused and designed by Washington.
Carlos de Céspedes, Cuban ambassador to Colombia, has also entered into the matter, who this Saturday in an interview on Qatari television Al Jazeera accused the US of “international piracy” and said that he is imposing a “marine siege” on the Island. “Cuba faces more powerful American threats than in the 67 years since the Revolution,” he said.
The authorities, for their part, have continued without providing public data on the lack of fuel, not even that used for distributed generation, the specific deficit of which is not discussed. This Sundaythe Island experienced another day of blackouts: with a maximum demand forecast of 3,130 megawatts (MW), availability was only 1,325, which predicted a shortage of 1,805 MW, equivalent to 60% of national consumption. Although it is not known what part is due to the lack of fuel, it was specified that only 450 MW corresponded to the deficit of thermoelectric plants.
If in Havana there are already more than 15 hours of blackout in a row, what happens in other provinces is truly dizzying: 29 hours in Pinar del Río, 40 in Matanzas and 48 in Cienfuegos that no longer surprise anyone. “Do not give more misfortune than what we have in that part that is not true –a user asked the Electrical Union–. Look for solutions for a people that is suffocating, that is dying. Do not ask for resistance because there is no longer any. “Be able to move your country forward and no longer justify the atrocities they do with the blockade, because they do not lack the comfort of life.”
