14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 31 January 2024 — It started as a murmur. Some drivers who were waiting with their vehicles in line to buy fuel at the El Tángana gas station in Havana shared the news. “They just said it on the news,” said a driver with shortness of breath and an almost purple face. “They backtracked on the new prices,” he concluded, before the stunned gaze of the others who had been in line for days.
A few hours before the new rates came into effect, up to five times higher than the previous rates for the sale of gasoline and diesel in Cuba, the authorities have canceled the measure. The reason for the step back has been explained on national television by Mildred Granadillo de la Torre, First Deputy Minister of Economy and Planning. The official has justified the slowdown due to the occurrence of “a cybersecurity incident in the computer systems for the marketing of fuels whose origin has been identified as a virus from abroad.”
Life stopped in each Cuban service center starting a little after two in the afternoon this Wednesday, when the announcement was broadcast on national television. In other times, it would have taken hours for those who had not been in front of the television screen to find out, but, for better or worse, the Internet has shortened the time and has accelerated reactions in today’s Cuba. A few minutes after it was announced before the news microphones, the effect of the official rectification was noticeable at the gas stations.
“I spent a very cold night in this line because I knew that starting Febru
