MIAMI, United States. — The fuel crisis that Cuba is going through has forced the United States Embassy in Havana to rent Chinese electric vehicles, reported the newspaper The New Herald.
The State Department confirmed to the Miami outlet that the diplomatic headquarters “rents numerous electric cars that are available to rent in Havana and will continue to do so until the crisis subsides.”
Although, at the moment, “there are no electric cars made in the United States in Cuba available for rent,” the situation could force the northern country to allow vehicles of this type to enter the island in the future.
The blog Cubatrade.orgdirected by John Kavulich, president of the US Cuba-Trade and Economic Council, assures that the US Embassy has rented at least four electric cars made in China to a Cuban state agency.
Kavulich criticized the fact that embassy officials paid the Cuban regime to use Chinese electric vehicles and did not import the cars directly from the US, for which they are authorized.
The New Herald recall that in November 2022 the Biden administration authorized the American company Premier Automotive Export, Ltd, based in Maryland and offices in Miami, to sell electric cars to Cuban businessmen, although none have yet arrived in the Caribbean country due to bureaucratic obstacles on the side Cuban.
“Why license a US company to export electric vehicles to Cuba, to citizens, private companies and embassies and then ignore them, not ask for help?” Kavulich questioned.
However, the lack of infrastructure in Cuba makes the massive arrival of electric vehicles impossible and it does not seem that the situation will change in the short term.
Recently, the American company Fuego Enterprises Inc., directed by the Cuban-American businessman Hugo Cancio, was authorized by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Treasury Department (OFAC) and the Department of Commerce to send vehicles to Cuba.
With the permit, the company will be able to send hybrid or combustion vehicles to the island, new and used, of different brands and sizes, with a manufacturing date between 2018 and 2023.
