Havana/Almost all of the GAZelle minibuses that operate in Havana are stopped due to lack of fuel. This is what local authorities warn this Wednesday in a post of Facebook, in which they detail that “only a small group” of gazelles is in operation and “the few that are operational will not be able to make all the planned trips.”
They will operate, the brief report continues, “as long as fuel allows.” The government of Havana is committed to keeping the population informed, to which it asks “sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused,” and assures, with rhetoric, that it is “working hard to keep you updated as quickly as possible.”
The publication was immediately filled with angry comments. “And where do they get the fuel and resources that are being spent on the famous freedom caravan?” asks Jorge Suárez, in reference to the demonstrations organized by the ruling party on the occasion of the anniversary of the triumph of the Castro Revolution. “Every year that same caravan wastes the people’s resources, and no one pays attention to those things anymore. How long are they going to force us to live off of unpleasant past things?”
Another user, Luis Armando Piloto Pérez, says: “Let’s hope that when the oil enters they will return to normal, because since August it was detected that in the municipality of Cotorro there are 27 gazelles and only 9 or 10 gazelles are working.” And the man reasons: “In these months oil entered and no improvement was seen.”
Sorry, but those are gargoyles, because they only come out at night, because if they come out during the day they turn into stone.”
Some choose humor when complaining about the service gazelleslike Carlos Blet “Sorry, but those are gargoyles, because they only come out at night, because if they come out during the day they turn into stone.” But the majority are outraged. “They are shameless, I travel every day on routes 22 and 11, which are the ones that go to Havana, and during the day there are almost never any, due to the fuel problem. The 22 at night appears as if by magic and charging from 400 to 500 pesos,” denounces Gledis Soler Serrano, showing that the problem is not new.
A year ago, in fact, the Minister of Transport himself, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, revealed that there was only fuel for just over 60% of the total gazelles in service, 435 at that time. The breakdowns have also reduced the fleet of these vehicles, which has made these routes useless.
To alleviate these problems and replace the old Russian GAZelle, Cuba imported, in the middle of the year, a hundred Chinese Foton minibusesto which this Wednesday’s publication does not allude at all. These, in any case, also had numerous errors upon release.
Today’s announcement coincides, however, with the growing fear on the Island that oil will become even more scarce, as a result of the arrest of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and the control that the United States intends to exercise over the fuel of the main ally of the Cuban regime.
