Foreign journalist pretends not to understand Cuba: "Why can't private individuals sell gasoline?"

The Uruguayan journalist Fernando Ravsberg published a question on his Facebook this week that serves as a sharp irony: “Why can't individuals who import gasoline to Cuba sell it to those of us who don't have the opportunity or the money to bring a 25,000-liter tank?”

The question directly highlights one of the most striking contradictions in the Cuban regime's energy policy in 2026: the government authorized small and medium-sized enterprises and private companies to import fuel, but strictly restricted it to self-consumption, prohibiting resale.

The result is that there is imported gasoline by private entities on the island, but those who need it the most cannot purchase it because the law prohibits it and because the minimum import volume is beyond the reach of any ordinary citizen.

The Deputy Prime Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva confirmed on February 6th during the program Mesa Redonda the so-called "decentralization of fuel importation," allowing companies with the capacity to purchase it directly.

However, the requirements are prohibitive for the vast majority. The Cuban micro, small, and medium enterprises looking to import fuel must mandatorily process the purchase through the state-owned company Quimimport, obtain certificates for microlocation, fire safety, and capacity, and acquire isotanks of 25,000 liters.

The Chinese company Fujian Trebor Trading Company, based in Miramar, offers diesel and gasoline in these isotanks at $2.50 USD per liter with the buyer's own tank, or $3.45 USD per liter with the tank included. The estimated cost of an operation exceeds $150,000.

Less than 33% of the registered micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (mipymes) in Cuba meet the technical requirements to import fuel, excluding entire sectors such as gastronomy, commerce, construction, and services due to a lack of infrastructure.

Meanwhile, ordinary Cubans are facing exorbitant prices in the black market. In January, the gasoline shortage drove the price of fuel up to 1,500 CUP per liter in some provinces.

In February, the liter reached 4,000 CUP in Havana. In March, gasoline in Havana hit 4,000 CUP per liter on the black market, exceeding 30 dollars per gallon.

In April, the price reached 6,000 CUP per liter, about 10 dollars. Cases were reported of Cubans paying 18,000 pesos for three liters of gasoline, in a country where the average state salary does not exceed 5,000-6,000 CUP per month.

The lines at state service stations exceeded 15 hours in April, according to reports from that month.

Ravsberg, who has lived in Cuba for over 30 years as a correspondent and was expelled in 2018—becoming, in his own words, "the first journalist expelled from Cuba by the new government"—maintains a critical voice regarding the contradictions of the system.