14ymedio, Havana, 31 January 2024 — In national currency and also in USD – a great novelty of the reform announced in January – the new fuel prices appeared this Wednesday on the pumps at the gas station at Rancho Boyeros and Ayestarán, in Havana. However, drivers are alarmed when they see those rates in pesos and dollars – five times more expensive than the previous ones – and the employees explain that the change will take effect tomorrow, Thursday, February 1.
Asked by 14ymedio, a driver from the state-owned Copextel says that the new measure does not worry him. Premium gas is at 156 pesos or 1.30 dollars instead of 30 pesos, regular and diesel at 132 pesos or 1.10 dollars, and diesel at 114 pesos or 0.95 dollars (instead of 25 and 20 pesos, respectively), he recites, while filling the tank of his truck. “I don’t care what it costs, because the company where I work pays for it. If I don’t have the money to pay for fuel, I’ll stay home,” he adds.
Private car drivers, however, do not show the same peace of mind. After spreading the word that the service center at 25 and G, in El Vedado, would be dispatching gasoline this morning, dozens of boteros (taxi drivers) and car owners gathered in a line that stretched for several blocks on both sides of F Street.
“I’m behind that Kia and he’s behind the red Peugeot,” a driver shouted. “No one wants a mess here; that’s why everyone who gets in line takes a photo of the license plate of the car in front of him, so those behind don’t cut in with two other people,” one of the boteros tells this newspaper.
Uneasy about the change of prices, with which they predict irregularities and preference of the Gove