The impact of the macroeconomic readjustment that the Government promised for this year has not yet reached Cuban service centers. During their tour of several gas stations on the Island, reporters from this newspaper confirmed that the employees of the Cuba-Petroleum Union are still waiting for instructions from the authorities who, yes, have demanded that they not allow customers to take photos of the new prices. nor the facilities.
This is the case of the Camajuaní service center, on the outskirts of this municipality of Villa Clara. Although the suppliers have not yet set the new rates, a company source has assured 14 intervene that a liter of gasoline will go from 30 to 200 pesos, while diesel will rise from 25 to 250 pesos. The manager is still waiting for confirmation from his boss before applying the new price. Regarding sales to tourists, he assures that it is not his responsibility and that the second service center in the town – in the direction of the North Cay – has already been set up for that purpose.
One thing, however, is clear to the employee, and that is the prohibition of the local Government and Police from taking photos of the pump. “The head of the DTI (the Directorate of Intelligence) just left here, who came to give that information,” says the worker, glancing askance at the Police station, located a few meters from the gas station.
The readjustment of the Cuban Government is expected to be devastating for Cubans, but it will have to wait for the “truce” of these holidays to end.
In Manzanillo, the service centers are still the same. “The rate is still the same, but there is still little fuel,” a Cupet employee explained this morning to a driver, at the Celia Sánchez hospital gas station.
For its part, the Boyeros and Ayestarán gas station, one of the most important in Havana, did not have a single car parked next to its pumps. Added to the strange absence of a line in the establishment is the lack of employees to answer questions or concerns from customers. The readjustment of the Cuban Government is expected to be devastating for Cubans, but it will have to wait for the “truce” of these holidays to end.
In a tour of several gas stations on the Island, this newspaper confirmed that the employees of the Cuba-Petroleum Union (Cupet) are still waiting for instructions from the authorities to implement the new fuel prices announced for 2024. pic.twitter.com/Gq0OLD73DO
— 14ymedio (@14ymedio) January 2, 2024
In search of the umpteenth change in economic direction, Havana announced a package of austerity measures that promised a massive increase in prices, including fuel, energy, water and food.
The urgency of the leaders to implement the plan – which, they have stressed, is not intended to further impoverish the population but rather to make those who spend the most pay more – keeps Cubans in suspense, who foresee that the package will significantly affect the cost of daily living.
Critical Cuban economists, such as Pedro Monreal, have stated that “an economic package does not necessarily have to be neoliberal in nature to produce effects similar to that of a traditional neoliberal package.”
After several years of crisis, the announcement of a “war economy” – as Prime Minister Manuel Marrero defined it –, supposedly caused by “waste”, contrasts with the dozens of ships loaded with fuel that have been seen calling into ports of the Island during 2023.
The Government, headed by Miguel Díaz-Canel, has come forward since the announcement of the plan, to point out that it is not a “neoliberal package” or a “shock plan.” The Executive has constantly repeated this idea in recent days, thus responding to some accusations from the opposition, which equated the measures with those undertaken in recent decades by other governments in the region, mostly right-wing, and more recently the new president of Argentina, the libertarian Javier Milei.
In this regard, critical Cuban economists, such as Pedro Monreal, have stated that “an economic package does not necessarily have to be neoliberal in nature to produce effects similar to that of a traditional neoliberal package.”
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