HAVANA — Many vintage American cars in Cuba, used as shared taxis, are currently idle due to a fuel shortage that began in January. The Cuban government attributes this shortage to a U.S. energy blockade and has implemented a reservation app to distribute fuel.
Thousands of Cubans use the government app to request fuel, with each reservation providing 20 liters (5.3 gallons) of gasoline. The U.S. government tightened sanctions on Cuba in January while threatening tariffs against countries that sell or transport oil to the island nation. One Russian oil tanker has delivered oil to Cuba since January, but the country produces approximately 40 percent of the fuel it consumes, relying on imports for the remainder.
Parts of Cuba are experiencing daily blackouts that can last up to 20 hours. Fuel prices on the black market can reach $8 per liter or $30 per gallon. Diriel Valdez, an auto body shop owner in Las Minas, stated, "I signed up in February and I am still somewhere around number 2,800." Valdez, who operates from his home in the town of approximately 2,000 people near Havana, is restoring a 1951 Chevrolet Deluxe with a burgundy body and a working original engine.
Valdez learned auto-body repair from his stepfather and has been repairing classic cars since age 13. He stated, "People do not want to do major repairs anymore. A lot of them have their cars parked and they do not have much hope that they will be circulating the way they used to." Leonardo Daniel González operates a 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster in Havana as a taxi driver. He said, "These cars are passed down from generation to generation. I had one that belonged to my great-grandfather, and it went from him to my grandfather, then to my father, and then to me." The Spanish word "almendron" refers to the rounded shape of large American sedans imported to Cuba before the 1959 revolution.
Historical sanctions and import restrictions have led Cuban mechanics to modify vintage cars by swapping engines, rebuilding bodies, and sourcing non-standard replacement parts. Modern vehicles available in Cuba in recent years are priced beyond the means of most state-sector workers. Electric motorcycles imported from China are also increasingly common, and the Cuban government is promoting a network of solar-powered charging stations to support small electric vehicles. Former economist Omar Everleny Pérez stated, "They have been vital to the transportation of ordinary Cubans, not only in Havana but throughout the country." González said, "There are several WhatsApp groups for us to find rides and so on, but tourism in Cuba is in very bad shape."
No independent assessment was available for this report.