“Desperate Waiting“, lamented the official website Cuba contention when commenting on new fuel crisis on the island. This forever queues The percentage of drivers and truckers provide a new fuel for a society grappling with a range of problems, from rising cost of living to drug shortages, from energy supply to insecurity. All of this is told in lines that loop around a gas station, lasting hours or even days. social networksA source of discontent that the government cannot control.
Queue in front of a store or supermarket social relationship Since the early 1960s, when the conflict with the United States became more violent and economic sanctions. Generations passed at that time, especially the so-called Special Period in Time of PeaceThe years following the 1991 explosion, Soviet Union, Cuba’s main supplier. But sleeping and eating as part of a long vigil to refuel is an uncomfortable novelty.
levels fuel shortage they have equivalent open between public transport. Since its appearance in 2018, mobile phone began to emerge as an autonomous means of communication. Apps that emulate Uber like up and down. This lack of gasoline This has greatly paralyzed private driver services.
This new wave of famine came a few days after the parliamentary elections and VenezuelanA key ally of the government reappears as the firefighter who can put out the burgeoning fire. Venezuelan Oil (PDVSA) increased oil supply to the island in the first quarter of this year. But experts, those who do not come from strategic ally, clean refined productsespecially gasoline And dieseland this is one of the causes of the current uprisings.
latent fatigue
Anger is often channeled through jokes. Comedian Otto Ortiz ironically thanked the government and its officials for saving him from the hassle of waiting so long to recharge. “Without them, I would be lining up at all the gas stations in the capital, desperately looking for the vital fluid for the car they never gave me,” said Ortíz, the owner of the car. wrote a pizzeria in Havana on social media. When overcome by humor, disappointment and lack of horizon, the desire to leave the country explodes. 366,000 people left the island in 2022According to Havana Consulting Group.
The wait is between gossip and reading phones. Cubans are flooded with rumors circulating in the virtual space. A queue never misses someone who still carries a copy due to the inertia of bygone days. Grandmother. The official body of the Communist Party reported that a new building was being built. tankFor the renovation of part of the infrastructure destroyed in a massive fire that killed 17 people in August last year in the state of Matanzas, 100 kilometers from Havana. Cuba It will take four years to recover the storage levels in Matanzas prior to the event.
Discussion about the model
Beyond the current deficit in terms of fuel, Cuban model one who finds himself with insurmountable limitations. The 3% GDP growth projected for 2023 will not reach family tables or gas stations. The government especially US sanctions. However, the number of economists who cite the mistakes that explain some of the situation is not few. Authorities encrypted them all expectations related to revival in tourism. The island received 1.6 million foreign visitors last year, which is less than 38% recorded in the year before the pandemic. in 2022 only Dominican Republic It received five times more tourists than Cuba.
In this context, Havana aims to strengthen its ties with Russia. HE President Miguel Diaz-Canel Received by Moscow last November. Vladimir Putin. Russian businessmen have shown an “interest” in promoting their products on the island through a wholesale business council. On the other hand, there is talk of a creation. Economic Transformation Center To promote the development of private companies in the largest of the Antilles.
The news aroused suspicion among many Cuban economists, especially as the regime wanted to promote market reforms under the watchful eye of Russia, a country with great inequalities, as the ‘Joven Cuba’ portal said, “hegemony of private oligopolies with government support”. in the years Fidel CastroThe Cubans called their Russian “friends” “bolos”. Many have forgotten this nickname, which has regained its meaning in these unexpected days of waiting.