Cuba is experiencing another gasoline shortage crisis as the countries supplying it with crude oil also face “a complex energy situation” and have failed to meet their commitments, the government reported on Friday, admitting it is not “clear” how the situation is. .

President Miguel Díaz-Canel, in statements broadcast on state television, specified that of the 500 to 600 tons Cuba consumes daily, it currently has “less than 400 tons of gasoline per day for all activities in the country.”

The government still isn’t “very clear on how we’re going to close ties to get out of this situation,” the president acknowledged.

According to analysts Venezuela, Cuba’s main supplier of crude oil, cut its deliveries from 100,000 barrels per day in 2016 to an average of 56,000 barrels per day in 2021.

Crises of lack of fuel supply have been repeated in the country, but on this occasion the lack of crude oil has been prolonged.

Drivers line up near a petrol station in Havana on April 14, 2023 to fill up. Photo: — ADALBERTO ROQUE

Motorists have been waiting in long queues for more than three weeks which can take up to days to load fuel.

Cars pile up on several streets in different parts of the capital around gas stations, even those that don’t have fuel, where discouraged users are content to chat or play dominoes, waiting for the truck to arrive that feeds the establishment.

“Where, where is that pipe (truck) that needs to be kidnapped?” says a motorist jokingly, but also despairingly, in one of the many WhatsApp groups that have become a necessity among Havanans looking for gas stations everywhere.

Díaz-Canel also said that in the case of diesel, a guaranteed fuel, the country has faced other obstacles.

He diesel is widely used by cars and buses in public transport.

The ship carrying the diesel broke down on arrival in Santiago de Cuba, in the eastern part of the island, delaying unloading, the president said.

In addition, much of this fuel is destined for electrical generating equipment that Cuba uses when thermoelectric power plants are undergoing maintenance or malfunction.