At the intersection of G and Línea, in the Habanero Vedado, a scheme for reselling tourist gasoline operates openly during the day, highlighting one of the most brutal contradictions of the Cuban energy crisis: while the average citizen waits up to 15 hours to refuel, those who rent tourist cars have access to subsidized fuel that they then sell on the black market, making a profit of between 40 and 50 dollars daily.
The mechanics are as simple as they are scandalous. A rental tourist car from a state rental agency is entitled to a quota of 20 liters per day of gasoline at CIMEX gas stations designated for tourism, at a price between 1.10 and 1.20 dollars per liter, which amounts to about 22-24 dollars for the total quota.
"People simply rent the car from the rental agency, go there, pick up 20 liters, and then sell those 20 liters for 7 dollars per liter to others. They sell it for 7 dollars, which totals 140 dollars, plus the 80 that it costs (for the car rental), earning them 40 or 50 dollars every day," recounted a witness of the scheme.
The scheme takes advantage of the stark difference between the subsidized tourism price and the black market prices ranging from 4,000 to 6,000 pesos per liter that the general population pays, a gap that turns every tourist fuel allocation into a highly profitable illegal business opportunity. Some Cubans have reportedly paid 18,000 Cuban pesos for just three liters, illustrating the desperation of those who do not have access to tourist gas stations.
Corruption at the Vedado gas stations is not a new issue. Neighbors and drivers have reported that the same cars pass through three and four times the facilities, taking advantage of the complicity or negligence of the staff responsible for managing the fuel quotas.
The outrage is not limited to the mechanics of the fraud but extends to the official tolerance of something that happens right in front of everyone. "You have a government that doesn't even have 1 liter of gasoline, and yet it's selling gasoline and allowing the traffic, smuggling, and trading of gasoline to flourish," said a witness. "Right in front of everyone's eyes, and everyone knows it, and nothing happens at all."
The reason for the silence, according to the same testimony, is structural: "It’s the censorship, Granma can't say that, because to say that it would have to say that the people from CIMEX are abnormal, they are stupid; the people from MINTUR are also stupid; everyone is corrupt and a bunch of... So, since it can't come out, it’s not published, and no one finds out about it."
Institutional corruption at CIMEX has high-level precedents: in 2020, the first vice president of CIMEX, Iset Maritza Vázquez Brizuela, was arrested for crimes related to corruption, indicating that the problem is not limited to the lower ranks of the chain.
The authorities have responded with targeted operations: recently, 16 people were arrested for the illegal sale of fuel, although these actions do not seem to have halted the practice. The underlying context is the worsening shortage following the end of Venezuelan shipments in December 2025, which left Cuba without its main source of hydrocarbon supplies.
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