There are cars that come with three tanks in the trunk, because they know the pump attendant , and they fill up to 300 liters to resell later.
14ymedio, José Lassa, Havana, 11 December 2024 — The nearby Riviera movie theater, in the middle of the Havana Film Festival, was deserted on Tuesday. The real buzz in that area of El Vedado was not to see a movie premiere or to meet a famous actor. It was at the gas station on the corner of G Street and 25th Street, where a long line was waiting for a great spectacle: buying fuel in Cuba. It is enough to get close to feel the tension.
The vehicles occupy the paths closest to the sidewalk in the vicinity of the gas station. There are people crowded at the entrance of the state-owned company Cuba Petróleo (Cupet) and the drivers gesticulate, shout and get annoyed at the slow progress of the line and the possibility that some profiteers might slip in. The biggest fear: that gasoline will run out before it is their turn.
“There’s been nothing here for three days and there are people who have been sleeping in line all that time. Today, at noon, a tanker came, a small one,” a young man tells 14ymedio, sitting in the driver’s seat of a silver-gray Geely, fanning himself while keeping an eye on what was happening at the fuel pumps. “My brother brought me something for lunch but I think he’s going to have to bring tomorrow’s food and breakfast as well because this isn’t going anywhere.”
The delay is not only down to the days without supply but also to the fact that four queues have converged on the premises
The delay is not only down to the days without supply but also to the fact that four queues have converged on the premises. “Nothing has arrived yet at El Tángana, nor the Cupet at L and 17 -which, only between the two, totaled one thousand tickets-, nor to the one at 23 and Malecón”, adds the young man, pointing out that “drivers have come here from those places”.
Most of them are waiting for their virtual turn, from the lists kept by a handful of reliable officials through the Telegram app., who warned, before dawn, of the arrival of 26,000 liters of gasoline. Customers at 25 and G, El Tángana and L and 17, who had signed up on the virtual list the day before, were summoned from 7 a.m. at the last two. For the less early risers, from 2 o’clock the service moved to 25 and G.
The mechanism put into practice this Tuesday is nothing short of bizarre. “Since 12:00 pm they began to pump gas. They alternate one from each queue. Now it’s 4:00 pm and it has hardly moved,” a customer waiting his turn told 14ymedio. To take in all the lines, an equally complex mechanism has been implemented.
“The two pumps that are working are now divided and so are the queues, so that in one of them they are supplying people who were in the queue of El Tángana and in this other one those who were in L and 17, alternating with those of 23 and with those of us who are registered in this Cupet”. The merging is slow: “This is going to take a long time, this is going to take a long time”, admits a man whose forearms are already reddened by the December sun, although not as strong as in other months of the year.
They all have similar tired faces, dry mouths due to lack of water, although you can see some whose family gives them something to drink or takes turns with them in the queue.
“The drivers who are in line have already been summoned by the organised virtual list” says another driver.
“With this system they want to put an end to the fuel resellers, they even ask for ID cards to prevent the resellers from getting in, but in a troubled river the fishermen profit. Look how many are there managing, this sucks,” complains the man referring to the system in place at the gas station where there are only two pumps working.
In addition to organizing the queue by Telegram for those who were in line yesterday, they were given their tickets to buy today. “I have number 34,” said a customer who arrived at the gas station in an old dark blue Lada and who four and a half hours after the start of the sale was playing with his son quietly in park G. “With each customer the employees take forever, you have to check the data, check them against what appears on the Telegram list, swipe the magnetic card that sometimes produces an error and you have to do it several times,” he explains.
“Look at how many people there are managing over there, not many working and lots of bosses, so completely inefficient,” he adds. The man doesn’t hold out much hope. “I don’t think this gas will last beyond 7 o’clock tonight, or maybe a little longer” he thinks. But he intends to stay put nevertheless.
“The lines are endless. I’ve been here since Monday night at 11,” said a man standing in line at the Cupet in Acapulco. Special gasoline costs 156 pesos a liter, regular, 132; and motor gasoline, 114, all limited to 40 liters maximum for cars and motorcycles according to their capacity. “Some have 15 liters, mine for example has 5,” the customer points out. “Obviously, people carry their hidden containers to refill them. There are cars that sneak in and come with three tanks in the trunk because they know the assistant, and they fill up to 300 liters to resell later. Gasoline runs out quickly,” he complains.
“They collect the cards, but the pump attendants themselves let people in by “the back door” plus the people who try to sneak in. The people in charge don’t say anything, and the queue doesn’t move until the fuel runs out. I myself filmed a Moskvitch getting between 300 and 400 litres”.
The Acapulco queue started at 26th Avenue, went all the way up Kohly, reached the divider and turned around, and ended back at 26th. “Outside, the litre is 550 or 600. “In the queue they told us that people were coming from Mayabeque, because there they get it for between 900 and 1,500 a litre”.
“In the queue they told us that people were coming from Mayabeque, because there they get it for between 900 and 1,500 a litre”.
On both sidewalks on 25th Street, from F to H, there is no room for another car either. The queues criss-cross at various points, go down G, and at a certain point you simply lose track of them.
Every three or four cars there are groups of tense drivers, watching with their eyes for each new car that approaches: “Here they have caught a few coleros [people others pay to wait in line for them] and they are taking them to Zapata [police station]. Not just anyone can turn up either. The other day they asked for the car’s licence and registration”, says a customer at the 25 and G queue.
On Telegram, the groups are still buzzing. They announce the arrival of a pump for 17 and L in the early hours of Wednesday morning and officials explain that “due to Cimex guidelines” it is not possible to arrange things for the morning and the petrol will be dispatched as soon as it arrives. Numbers 1 to 457 of 25 and G started to be dispatched from 9pm, the last 50 were scheduled to be dispatched at 5am on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the messages keep coming in: “Those who asked for special petrol are kept pending until it arrives at one of the service centres”, “tomorrow 11.12.24 at 9 a.m., we will open the group to sign up” or “if you try to use the same car plate more than once, the system will invalidate it”.
A pointy-hatted Father Christmas seems to watch the scene from the sidewalk in front of the gas station, safely behind the perimeter wall of a luxurious private restaurant. Some passing tourists notice the people waiting and ask what is going on, but the drivers don’t even feel like answering.
Translated by GH
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.