About half of that came from political ally Venezuela, which itself has sunk into economic crisis and, under mismanagement and U.S. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuba used about 137.000 barrels a day of fuel - gasoline, diesel, natural gas and derivatives - to keep the economy moving. So the island turns to diesel units to try to cover the shortfall. They usually depend on the island's own heavy crude oil, but their operation has been erratic. Half of Cuba's electricity comes from 13 thermoelectric plants, eight of which are more than 30 years old. Venezuela has not been sending Cuba the quantity of diesel it needs, so Cuba has had to take part of the supply that was dedicated to the transport sector for the diesel electric generation groups," he said. "The collapse of the thermoelectric plants has caused an increased demand for diesel generation groups. "What we are seeing is what we call the domino effect," said Jorge Piñon, director of the Latin America and Caribbean Energy Program at the University of Texas in Austin. "If at some point there was information that, ´Look, there is no fuel because the situation of the country requires it to give electricity to people,' I would understand."Įxperts - agreeing with scuttlebutt in the streets - say the country can't afford to buy all the diesel it needs and what it has is being directed to generate power. "Nobody has said 'this is what is happening' with the fuel,'" Rodríguez said. Rodriguez expressed frustration at the lack of clear explanations from officials.
The recent fuel shortage largely affects diesel - used by heavy vehicles and classic cars whose original engines were long ago swapped out, often with Eastern European truck engines - rather than the gasoline used by most cars. For Rodríguez, that's 60 liters (16 gallons), which he said will last him three days.
Scuttlebutt com drivers#
Authorities say drivers can only fill their tanks, but not other containers. The car had run out of fuel and Rodríguez had to push it into the line. "My home, my family depend on this diesel." I'm legally established," said Rodríguez, the 37-year-old owner of a gold-and-white 1954 Oldsmobile whose worn-out gasoline engine at some point had been replaced with a diesel. Because of the lists, those who live nearby can go home for spells - keeping track of any progress via a WhatsApp group. "I have seen pretty bad situations, but not like now," said the 46-year-old Pérez, who was eating and sleeping in his 1950s-era Chevrolet truck, which he had outfitted to haul some 40 passengers.ĭrivers in the lines have tried to organize themselves by creating lists of those waiting and updating them daily as they wait for tanker trucks to arrive with fuel. It's not the first time the island has suffered fuel shortages, but it's one of worst. Such lines have become increasingly common in Cuba, where officials apparently have been sending scarce diesel fuel to power generation plants rather than fuel stations for vehicles.
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Taxi driver Jhojan Rodríguez had been waiting at another station even longer - it was nearing two weeks - but he was finally near the head of the line of hundreds of vehicles in the Playa district of the capital. HAVANA - Dany Pérez had spent four days in a line of vehicles waiting to fill his truck with diesel he needs for the 900-kilometers (560-mile) trip from Havana to his home in eastern Cuba.
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