He public transport in Cuba is in one of its “worst moments in recent years” and the country does not have the necessary income and fuel to stabilize it, the Castro dictatorship acknowledged this Thursday.
For years now, Cuba has been going through a public transport crisis that shows no signs of giving in. According to official data, in Havana alone, more than half of the flotilla (a little less than 900 vehicles) does not work and the lack of fuel makes the situation even worse.
The mobility problem originates, among other reasons, from the inability to repair old units -either due to not being able to buy the parts or due to the difficulties in importing them-, as well as the cyclical fuel deficits that the country usually goes through.
The Cuban dictator, Miguel Diaz-Canelhe assured during the YouTube program From the Presidency, which he himself presents, that in at least 121 municipalities of the 15 provinces of the country there is significant concern among the population due to the lack of transportation.
The president, as the Cuban regime usually blames, assured that the US sanctions They are one of the reasons that have led to this situation and that, according to official calculations, the embargo (blockade) cost the sector about 202.4 million dollars between February 2022 and March 2023.
He assured that only in Havana are 80,000 liters of diesel daily for the entire public transport fleet and that the country, “with current conditions”, does not have enough fuel to cover it.
In this regard, the minister of the branch, Eduardo Rodríguez, reported in this same space that state public transportation currently serves less than half as many passengers as it did five years ago, from 5.9 million travelers a day to just 2.7.
Likewise, the head of Transportation stated that this problem also occurs in the transfer of goods, which is in the half of its capacity.
Likewise, he stressed that “half of the routes” covered by the state fleet do not operate in a stable manner, either because the old vehicles break down that take them out of circulation or due to lack of fuel.
This situation, as Díaz-Canel and Rodríguez recognized, has led to resorting to private transportation, whose prices are usually unattainable for the majority of Cubans.
On the other hand, the Cuban regime told the United States Intelligence agencies this Saturday to mount an operation to “cause a social outbreak”, taking advantage of the “complex economic situation” of the Caribbean island.
“They aspire to heat the Cuban streets during the summer, taking advantage of the complex economic situation that the country is experiencing,” according to the official newspaper. Granma (official organ of the Communist Party, the only legal one).
The newspaper mentioned the “Operation 11.7.24” which has among its goals “to provoke a social outbreak around July 11, like a repeat of the 2021 riots, financed and promoted from the United States.”
The prolonged and frequent blackouts in Cuba, as well as the lack of food, medicine and other basic products have been the triggers for several anti-government protests such as those on July 11, 2021, considered the largest in decades.
On March 17 and 18, hundreds of people demonstrated in Santiago de Cuba (east) and other cities in the country to protest the shortage of food and the prolonged daily blackouts on the island, plunged into a deep crisis for three years. .
(With information from EFE)
