Cuban government recognizes that “the expected effect has not been achieved” after the rise in fuel prices

The Cuban government recognized during itsmonthly meeting of the Council of Ministers, that thenew fuel prices, coming into force on March 1, have not “achieved the expected effect”, especially in relation to the offer offered by private carriers.

In the evaluation made by the senior Cuban leaders, stationed in one of the rooms of the Palace of the Revolution,the first vice minister of Economy and Planning, Mildrey Granadillo de la Torre, assured that prices have continued to increase with regard to transportation for the population, blaming this increase on private means.

The official specifically said that "although the non-state management forms that provide passenger and cargo transportation services acquire fuel to carry out these activities at the established wholesale prices,the expected effect on prices has not been achieved", according to a report from the official newspaperGranma.

Since these new rates came into force, which will be reviewed every three months, the regime has been put on alert, for fear of a price increase in the private transport sector, aware that such a fact will have repercussions on the already delicate circumstances of mobility throughout the island.

Among their tactics, apparently inefficient, have been the imposition of fines on transporters, as occurred inGuantanamo, where in less than a week, inspectors imposed 80 sanctions on drivers “who incurred indiscipline and illegalities,” according to a note in the official newspaper.We will win.

Another of their alternatives has been preventive talks through the Public Administration Council, the National Office of State Transportation Inspection, the Comprehensive Supervision Directorate, together with the National Revolutionary Police, so that they "organize and combat prices abusive and speculative in passenger transportation.”

The truth is that faced with a panorama of growing shortages, the authorities still cannot find a formula that does not have the population as the main affected in the decisions that are signed from a bureau in the Palace of the Revolution, an issue that negatively impacts the quality of life of Cubans.

In defending this package of measures in the order of fuels, the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, has said, among other issues, that "the increase in prices to the population by private transporters is a distortion that must be corrected".

Likewise, using the word that he likes so much,The official has urged to eliminate "softness" in the confrontation with the possible price increase.

Even,The prime minister has even threatened to take away the license, and even the vehicles, to all those who raise the prices of the service.

Marrero Cruz has emphasized the responsibility of local governments to enforce what is established and has launched very specific threats that worsen the situation.

In its defense, the government has maintained, since the beginning of the implementation of this measure, thatThe preservation of wholesale fuel prices for private transporters should prevent the increase in the value of the services they offer to the population..

Issue that seen, a month later, does not achieve the expected results from the bureaucratic conception established in their offices.

It is worth remembering thatThis measure has increased the multiple concerns that the population has on the island. Since the beginning of its implementation, Cubans began to detect increases in the rates of private transporters, while drivers suffer long lines at the few supplied gas stations.