Cuban Drivers Face Months-long Waits For Gasoline Amid U.s. Oil Siege

HAVANA, Cuba — Drivers successful Cuba are facing nan prospects of waiting months to refuel their cars, arsenic substance shortages caused by a U.S. lipid siege intensify.

To debar chaos extracurricular state stations, Cuba’s authorities past week made it obligatory for drivers to usage an app known arsenic Ticket to get refueling appointments.

But drivers successful Havana told opportunity nan app is awarding appointments weeks aliases months from now.

“I person No. 7,000 and something,” said Jorge Reyes, a 65-year-old who downloaded nan app Monday.

Reyes signed up to refuel astatine a state position successful Havana that is awarding only 50 appointments per day, and nan app allows drivers to motion up for appointments astatine only 1 state position astatine a time.

Some drivers are sharing accusation connected WhatsApp groups astir which places mightiness beryllium little crowded aliases which state stations person a greater capacity to service customers, noting that immoderate locations are awarding up to 90 appointments per day.

But that is of small comfortableness to those who person downloaded nan app, only to find retired location are up to 10,000 appointments up of theirs.

The Cuban authorities besides stopped trading gasoline successful section rate astatine subsidized rates of astir 25 cents per liter and now is trading only much costly substance priced successful U.S. dollars.

A liter of gasoline sells for $1.30 astatine state stations and tin costs up to $6 successful nan increasing achromatic market. Government workers successful Cuba gain little than $20 a period erstwhile their net successful Cuban pesos are converted to U.S. dollars utilizing marketplace rates.

When drivers yet tin refuel astatine work stations, they are allowed to bargain only 20 liters of gasoline, aliases astir 5.2 gallons.

“This will not past maine long,” said Ariel Alonso, a businessman who refueled Monday astatine nan El Riviera state station.

“I person to time off a reserve of 5 liters successful lawsuit anyone gets sick astatine home” and has to beryllium taken to nan hospital, he said.

The Ticket app is tally by XETID, a state-owned package firm. Last week, nan company’s commercialized director, Saumel Tejada, told nan news tract Cuba Debate that much than 90,000 drivers had sought refueling appointments utilizing nan app.

Ticket has been astir for 3 years and antecedently was utilized by Cubans to unafraid appointments astatine notaries and astatine state stations wherever they could salary for substance successful section currency. But now it is almost nan only measurement for drivers to get their cars refueled — without going to nan achromatic market.

Vehicles utilized for nan island’s tourism manufacture are nan exception. Those cars person typical licence plates and are allowed to refuel astatine 44 work stations astir nan island, wherever agelong lines person formed. As pinch regular vehicles, tourism cars tin acquisition only 20 liters of fuel.

Crisis intensifies

Fuel shortages and blackouts person been intensifying successful Cuba this period arsenic nan federation struggles to import lipid for its powerfulness plants and refineries.

In precocious January, President Trump threatened immoderate federation that sold lipid to Cuba pinch tariffs, arsenic Washington steps up efforts to unit nan island’s communist authorities to make economical and governmental reforms.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has said he is consenting to discuss pinch nan U.S. “as equals” and without relinquishing his nation’s sovereignty. Díaz-Canel has accused nan U.S. of staging an “energy blockade.”

Venezuela, 1 of Cuba’s main lipid suppliers, stopped trading crude to nan land successful January aft nan U.S. captured then-President Nicolás Maduro successful a pre-dawn ambush and flew him to New York to look drug-trafficking charges.

Mexico besides trim disconnected lipid shipments to Cuba successful January aft Trump issued nan tariff threat.

Banks connected nan land reduced their moving hours successful a bid to prevention electricity, and this period nan Cuban authorities said it will not supply substance to planes that onshore connected nan island, prompting 3 Canadian airlines to cancel flights to Cuba. Other airlines will proceed to alert to nan land but make refueling stops successful nan Dominican Republic.

A book adjacent and an yearly cigar waste and acquisition adjacent besides were postponed arsenic officials look for ways to trim substance and energy consumption.

Last week a group of United Nations quality authorities experts condemned nan U.S lipid siege, saying that it has “no ground connected corporate information and constitutes a unilateral enactment that is incompatible pinch world law.”

Rodriguez writes for nan Associated Press.