Related videos:
Manuel Viera, a Cuban activist in exile publishing under the profile "Porelcambio," raised a question that shook social media this Saturday: if the same truck from CUPET —the Cuban state oil company— is the one distributing the liquefied gas that platforms like Supermarket23 sell for dollars, whose business is it really?
The complaint highlights a contradiction that many Cubans perceive but few have articulated so clearly: the State massively fails to fulfill its gas supply contracts in pesos with the population, while its own vehicles and logistical structures facilitate the distribution of that same product to sell it in foreign currency to those receiving remittances from abroad.
"Is it legal for an entity that is currently breaching millions of liquefied gas contracts with the people of Cuba to simultaneously transport liquefied gas throughout Havana to be sold in a currency that was not agreed upon and that is not even Cuban?" Viera wrote.
The question is not rhetorical: since early May, platforms like Katapulk and Supermarket23 started selling 10 kg liquefied gas canisters for 29 dollars, with delivery available only in Havana.
The inventory of Supermarket23 sold out in just a few hours on Thursday, May 8th. In the informal market, the same products were offered for 45,000 Cuban pesos, far exceeding the approximately 15,660 pesos equivalent to the price in dollars at the informal exchange rate.
On May 11, Supermarket23 announced that it was reorganizing its logistics to restore the service "as soon as possible," without specifying a date, assuring that there was "sufficient availability."
The gas sold by these platforms is imported from the United States by small and medium-sized private Cuban companies under licenses from the U.S. government.
However, the regime requires mandatory mediation by QUIMIMPORT or MAPRINTER and charges a fee of 0.12 dollars per liter through CUPET, which raises the final cost to over 2.50 dollars per liter, thereby ensuring a cut of the supposedly "private" business.
According to data from the U.S.-Cuba Economic and Trade Council, Cuba imported more than $11.6 million in fuels from the United States between January and March 2026, with 75.6% concentrated in March alone.
The comments on Viera's post reflect two theories among Cubans.
Some point out that companies simply rent trucks from CUPET through contracts, which would give an appearance of legality to the scheme. "Now companies rent the trucks and make contracts, it's that simple," wrote a user.
Others argue that all these agencies have direct dealings with the government or are effectively owned by those in power. "The business... ask GAESA, they know," pointed out another commentator, referring to the military business conglomerate.
"Here is a pile of front men," added another user. "Most of the companies that distribute food and other goods and supplies are state-owned with the facade of being private," stated a third.
The backdrop is a structural crisis that is intensifying relentlessly.
Of 1.7 million liquefied gas customers in Cuba, more than 50% were unable to make purchases during the April 2026 distributions. More than 109,000 homes in Matanzas have been without regular supply since October 2024.
In January of this year, the tanker Emilia returned empty from Jamaica due to the Cuban government's inability to pay.
Viera summarized the logic of the system with a phrase that captured the sentiments of thousands: "They squeeze the already squeezed people, they kidnap them so that a ransom can be paid from abroad, and in the meantime, they profit from their misery and sell the food and gas they need in dollars."
In March 2025, a corruption scheme at the Liquefied Gas Company of Havana linked to CUPET executives had already been revealed, involving bribes, diversion of resources, and irregular contracts, including the arrest of a distribution truck driver — illustrating that the gas logistics chain has historically been a space of corruption, long before the dollar business came to light.
Filed under: