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The Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz posted a message on X this Saturday in which he attributes the growing challenges in maintaining essential services on the island to the "energy blockade and the economic warfare measures of the U.S.," and promises that the government will continue to "implement alternatives" in transportation.
The message arrives on the same day that the Ministry of Transport announced a drastic reduction of frequencies for buses, trains, and ferries starting June 18, 2026, a measure that reflects the collapse of the Cuban public transportation system.
Marrero described the scenario as "perversely constructed" and stated that "in terms of transportation, and in accordance with the Government Program, services directly linked to the population and the functioning of the economy are prioritized."
The speech follows the systematic pattern of the regime of placing the blame for all its troubles on Washington, evading decades of inefficiency, mismanagement, and an economic model that the Centro de Estudios de la Economía Cubana (CEEC) described in February 2026 as "exhausted," characterized by "stagnation and a lack of recovery."
The data refutes the official narrative. The bus production in Cuba collapsed from 473 units in 2019 to only 12 projected for 2026, a drop of 97.5% that far predates the most recent sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.
Marrero himself acknowledged in October 2024 that the scarcity of fuel was "the main factor" in the Cuban economic collapse, before any of the new sanctions of 2026 were signed.
The Cuban public transport is sinking with alarming figures: in January 2026, the government acknowledged that only 42% of the planned targets were being met. In Ciego de Ávila, only two out of 135 bus routes were operational in March 2026. In Sancti Spíritus, all intermunicipal and rural transport was suspended due to a lack of fuel.
Starting June 20, the ferry between Nueva Gerona and Batabanó will reduce its schedule from two weekly departures to a single departure on Saturdays. National trains to Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, Holguín, and Bayamo-Manzanillo will operate with one round trip approximately every two weeks.
The economic context is equally devastating. The Cuban economy fell by 5% in 2025 according to the CEEC, accumulating a contraction of over 15% since 2020 and approximately 23% since 2019. CEPAL projects a decline of 6.5% for 2026, the worst in Latin America, while The Economist Intelligence Unit projects -7.2%.
Organizations such as CEPAL, CEEC, and the French Development Agency agree that the crisis has internal structural causes: excessive centralization, low productivity, and an inefficient state sector that cannot be explained solely by external sanctions.
The message from Marrero comes days after Trump signed Executive Order 14404 on May 1, 2026, and after the State Department sanctioned GAESA —the military conglomerate that controls approximately 40% of the Cuban economy— and its CEO Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera on May 6.
Foreign financial institutions have until June 5, 2026, to cease operations with GAESA, a pressure point that the regime is exploiting to reinforce its narrative of victimhood, while the Cuban people grapple with a transportation system that is collapsing under the weight of 67 years of dictatorship.
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