By Claudia Dupeiron
Havana, Apr 4 (EFE).- Havana’s streets are undergoing a transformation characterized by a surge in creative electric vehicles, such as passenger-adapted cargo tricycles. This shift provides a vital alternative to gasoline vehicles, driven by the island’s severe energy crisis.
«These tricycles resolve the transportation situation quite a bit. The only downside is that at a certain time, the prices start to go up, and since I travel far from the center of Havana, I pay almost 1,000 pesos daily (about two dollars),» Liset de la Caridad tells EFE while waiting for her electric tricycle.
The minimum monthly wage in Cuba until mid-2025 was 2,100 CUP (17.5 dollars), and the average wage was 6,506 pesos (54.2 dollars). Meanwhile, minimum pensions are 3,056 pesos (25.4 dollars).
Havana’s main avenues, which years ago were filled with tourists riding in classic convertible cars, are now seeing fewer motor vehicles.
Restaurants and hotels are closed due to a lack of customers, and most gas stations stopped selling fuel more than two months ago. More than half of the airlines have suspended their flights to the island since February.
The island has suffered a severe energy crisis since 2024 due to frequent breakdowns in its obsolete thermoelectric plants and the State’s lack of foreign currency to import fuel. The situation worsened in January due to the United States’ oil embargo.
«I used to work in construction, as a bricklayer and carpenter, but given the current situation, there isn’t much work. At least in this job (as an electric tricycle driver), we provide a service to the public amid the energy problem we have,» explains Alberto Duani.
This job has also become a profession for young women in Havana. Yamiselis Alfonso, a driver of one of these vehicles, tells EFE that she has been driving a fixed route «for six months.»
«My tricycle fits six seated people. I do the route that goes from the Fraternidad Park (in the Centro Habana municipality of the Cuban capital) to Toyo, an area in the 10 de Octubre municipality,» a round trip of almost ten kilometers, explains Alfonso, who works about twelve hours daily, «depending on the number of clients.»
Like Yamiselis and Alberto, dozens of drivers of these tricycles are seen daily on every avenue of the Cuban capital, which has filled up with these types of vehicles, both transporting people and delivering goods to markets and stores.
Acute shortage
In early February, the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, assured that his government was preparing a plan for an «acute fuel shortage» in the face of pressure from the US As a result, inter-provincial bus departures were reduced to only a quarter of their usual frequency, and local transportation and other services considered «lower priority» by the Cuban government were almost annulled.
The Minister of Transport of the Caribbean nation, Eduardo Rodríguez, announced on March 18 that, even for hemodialysis patients, transfer options in taxis or electric tricycles have been promoted.
The official explained that the current energy deficit has also forced the temporary suspension of most investments in road infrastructure, terminals, and stations.
Díaz-Canel previously assured in a press conference on March 13 that «not a drop of fuel» had arrived in Cuba since January.
About 15 days later, the country received the Russian oil tanker Anatoli Kolodkin with about 100,000 tons of crude oil, which will be converted in the coming weeks into about 250,000 barrels of diesel, enough to cover the country’s demand for little more than 12 days.
Private «Crumbs»
Furthermore, in recent weeks, thanks to measures in Cuba and the US, some imported fuel has begun to flow to the island’s nascent private sector, around 30,000 barrels so far this year.
However, Cuban economist Omar Everleny told EFE that this is «crumbs» because the country’s daily energy needs are around 100,000 barrels per day (only 40% of which are met with domestically produced crude; the rest must be imported). EFE
cdg/dmv
