14ymedio, José Lassa and Mercedes García, Havana / Sancti Spíritus, 2 June 2025 — The arrival of liquefied gas (propane) in the Cuban capital has brought anything but tranquility. It had been three months since many customers could get it, but they were not even concerned: the sale was for those who had been unable to buy since December; that is, for five months.
“There are huge lines, people are almost beating each other up, it’s hell,” said a resident from Boyeros on Sunday. “I got February 14; who knows when it’s my turn, because they are now selling it for December. I have a neighbor who had to leave the line because she says it was infernal. A real fight must have happened.”
In Guanabacoa, the despair was total. The managers were trying to organize a line in front of a population that was desperate for the 199 tanks they had to sell, making it clear that most would leave empty-handed. There, at the point of sale of Fuente and Obispo, chaos was the word that defined the situation.
The organizers read the names of the people who could come and buy and tried to coordinate so that no one would sneak in. The day was marked by discomfort, arguments, screams and an overwhelming heat from which some protected themselves with umbrellas while others tried to shelter from the sun by gluing themselves to nearby buildings.
The Cuban Petroleum Union (Cupet) had announced the start of the sale of propane in the western provinces for this Saturday, through all channels on social networks and the official press. Cupet stated that the process would begin on May 31 and would be carried out daily in an organized manner, delivering a single cylinder per customer to those who couldn’t buy in February.
But organization has been impossible in Havana, although almost half the population (more than 280,000 households) receive gas service through pipelines. These customers are supplied by natural gas coming from the plants in Puerto Escondido, Varadero and Boca de Jaruco, all part of Energas, a joint venture managed by Canada’s Sherritt International and Cuba’s state-owned Cupet.
It was unfortunate that on the very same day that the chaotic sale of propane began, the plant at Boca de Jaruco went out of service due to a breakdown in one of the Energas outlet lines, disrupting the flow of the other two. This affected generation and “increased the impact,” according to the Ministry of Energy and Mines in a message on social networks calling for calm and assuring that four turbines had already been recovered.
Protests over the disorganization have multiplied in all the municipalities of the capital. Those who paid 10 pesos on Ticket to secure a digital place in line complain that it isn’t applied. They demand that priority be given to those who have not bought since 2024, something that is not always true, or they claim that corruption among organizers is taking place.
“I call on the managers to organize lines at the points of sale and not leave it in the hands of corrupt coleros* [people paid by others to wait in line for them] and delegates. I hope the police and the army will support me,” shouted one customer.
The situation contrasts with the tranquility in Sancti Spíritus, where calm reigns thanks to a good functioning of the Ticket application. “There have been no lines or fighting, because it is organized by Facebook and other networks,” says a resident of the capital city, where the sale also began on December 31 for the physically disabled, vulnerable and those who had not received it since December. On Sunday, it was reserved for those who paid 10 pesos for the virtual line. “Here everyone knows when it’s their turn. I should get it next week because I have number 33 on Ticket.”
Of the 150 days in the year that they had the propane, on 117 there was none on the island, according to the minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, last Thursday on Miguel Díaz-Canel’s podcast “From the Presidency.” They both admitted that it happened when the ship carrying the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) that is being sold now has arrived but had not been unloaded, because there was no money to pay for it. They stated that the conditions for doing so in advance and the banking problems arising from the US embargo also complicate the operation.
These same problems, they said, are being repeated with a second ship that was “hired and paid,” which makes it foreseeable that the gas shortage will be repeated, with repercussions for the population.
In addition, as Díaz-Canel and De la O Levy notes, the lack of LPG influences the electricity demand, which increases by 200 or 250 megawatts the daily power required. But this is not the only problem. Many people are likely to buy the gas ‘on the left’ (the informal market), either from outsiders or by underestimating the serious consequences that can occur; or they are forced to cook with fire, even having to sacrifice their furniture if they cannot afford the high price of coal.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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