Not even Venezuela can help Cuba with its great crisis: 8 dollars a liter of fuel

There is an anniversary in Cuba that has been celebrated almost continuously since the Cuban revolution in 1959 brought Fidel Castro to power. It's the Labor Day Parade, May 1. It has only been canceled twice: one of them, during the coronavirus crisis. The other, that of this 2023, due to the very deep fuel crisis in which the island is immersed. The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, said on April 14 that there was only a little more than half of the fuel consumed on the island.. Since then, the situation has not improved, and even the island's traditional allies are unable to help..

The administrative control that the Cuban regime maintains over practically the entire economy includes the Union Cuba Petróleo (Cupet).. And, despite the implications, it was this state monopoly that admitted that refineries are underutilized due to the current crude shortage.. Regarding the disaster, Díaz-Canel said that they continued “without being clear about how to make the [supply] draws to get out of this situation.”. The president summarized the causes of the shortage in non-compliance by suppliers: “the countries that have certain commitments with us to supply us with gasoline based on the agreements we have are going through complex energy situations and have not been able to fulfill the commitments made”. Venezuela, the elephant in the room, was not specifically mentioned.

For more than two decades Caracas, the great ally of the Castros in the Caribbean, has offered fuel to the Island under very favorable conditions, which has helped prop up the Cuban economy during that time.. Although Díaz-Canel and his ministers did not mention Nicolás Maduro, the figures expose the abrupt drop in Chavista fuel shipments, which have finally paralyzed the island.

In April, Cuba received 45,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Venezuelan fuel, 6,000 less than in March and 27,000 less than in February. This supply had its lowest point in recent years in January, at 29,000 bpd.. The problem is that Venezuela is having trouble producing enough fuel for its own needs..

To alleviate this lack of fuel from Venezuela, Havana has tried to find solutions in other allies, such as Mexico and Russia, whose supplies are also easier to process than those of Venezuela, and produce more gasoline.. Ships from these countries have unloaded fuel in an attempt to alleviate the very serious crisis that the island is suffering, but far from improving, the shortage worsens every day. This is the crisis that affects the Cuban soul.

“This has been hell with us drivers. For a year or so there have been long queues. Sometimes queuing all day to get fuel, but things got worse a month ago. They put only four gas stations for individuals in all of Havana,” exemplifies Jorge Álvarez Galbán, owner of an old Volkswagen diesel van and a Daewoo gasoline car.. The queues are becoming more obvious. The Tribuna de La Habana, the capital's communist newspaper, reported that during the huge lines people “camped, cooked and played dominoes.”. Said medium described this environment as a sign of “resistance and good humor”.

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However, in these riots, clashes and brawls also break out, and the tension is skin-deep. “There have been late-night fist fights between drivers who accuse each other of jumping the line, even between foreign diplomats who are assigned their own gas station,” CCN reports.. With the aim of avoiding these “social indiscipline” in the crowds of drivers, the Government of Havana now requires drivers their personal data and those of the vehicle so that they are notified when it is their turn to buy.

“Gasoline does have more vending machines —continues the resident driver in the Cerro municipality—. In the queues to supply my car with gasoline I had to leave it there and go home to sleep. When you add gasoline you can't refuel for three days. And they give you 40 liters, it's the most you can pour. You cannot store fuel outside the tank of the car. For example, mine only has a capacity of 30 liters, and I lose the other 10 liters that I could drink because they don't fit in my tank”.

Álvarez Galbán, who works as a private taxi driver, assures that his days pass between lining up and surviving them.. “In the stations that remain active, they would serve every day in the morning between 7,000 and 9,000 liters. There has been a huge queue since the day before, we dial, leave the car and go home to sleep. Let's see how long this lasts,” concludes Álvarez Galbán, who is over 60 years old..

Towards the interior of the country the situation is much more chaotic. In the Matanzas province, the peasant Marino Herrera Jiménez does not have gasoline to travel to his farm. “I've been getting up early for two days to take the only bus that goes to the countryside. If I lose it I can't go. The boteros (private taxi drivers) are lost and charge a lot,” he explains..

This man must move about 10 miles to get to and from his land every day.. For this he uses an old soviet motorcycle with a displacement of 38 CC.. The performance of the vehicle from the 80s still exceeds 25 kilometers per liter of the lousy gasoline they sell in Colón (fuel with only 83 octane). There is not even fuel for this type of engine in Cuba.

“Yesterday I went to see a taxi driver who gets it (he steals it from his state allowance), and he wanted to sell me two liters at 1,000 pesos each. I told him no, that's why I'm going on foot or I don't work”. A Cuban farmer who tills his land even with oxen and horses cannot pay for gasoline at more than eight euros per liter, according to the official government exchange rate..

From Matanzas itself, private taxi drivers are charging up to 25,000 pesos for a trip to Havana. These routes of no more than 180 kilometers, which are carried out for medical appointments or procedures, would be paying almost 210 euros. Bus terminals such as Villanueva, in Havana, experience large crowds due to the small fleet of vehicles that provide transportation services.

Moving from one place to another in Cuba was not so difficult since the island had to face the collapse of the socialist camp in the early 1990s. This situation, together with the blackouts and the acute shortage of basic products, already caused a massive protest this Saturday in the Caimanera municipality of the Guantánamo province.. That site is officially called “the first anti-imperialist trench” because of its proximity to the US Guantanamo Naval Base..