The Mariel Special Development Zone and the Ministry of Transport carried out an operation to unload new imported motor vehicle fleets, consisting of 20 Yutong buses for the Ómnibus Nacionales service and 200 vehicles designated for transporting patients undergoing hemodialysis across the country.
The information was confirmed this Saturday by the official journalist Bernardo Espinosa on his social media, where he announced that the import is supported by the Transport Development Fund.
The new buses, manufactured in China, showcase the blue and white visual identity of Ómnibus Nacionales de Cuba.
On May 14, a video shared by the Facebook page Rodando en Ciego de Ávila reported on the presence of buses in Mariel.
The arrival of these vehicles is a response to an unprecedented transport crisis. On Friday, the Minister of Transport Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila announced that starting June 18, the departures of Ómnibus Nacionales between Havana and the provincial capitals will be reduced to three weekly departures, and the routes to Manzanillo and Baracoa will only have one departure per week.
The collapse of the vehicle fleet is structural. In December 2025, only 219 out of 558 interprovincial buses were operational. In Ciego de Ávila, in March 2026, only two out of 135 transport routes were functioning.
The 200 electric vehicles for hemodialysis address an equally serious health emergency. Cuba has over 3,000 patients with chronic kidney failure who depend on regular hemodialysis sessions in 57 units distributed throughout the country.
Since February, transportation for these patients has been halted in Las Tunas, Granma, Pinar del Río, Ciego de Ávila, and Villa Clara due to a lack of fuel, which has forced patients to pay up to 500 pesos per trip or to be admitted to hospitals without adequate conditions.
The government promised that the vehicles will arrive accompanied by charging stations and after-sales service. The announcement also confirmed that Viazul services and Medibus, coordinated with the Ministry of Public Health, will remain operational.
The energy background worsens the outlook. The Minister of Energy Vicente de la O Levy admitted on Wednesday that Cuba has "absolutely nothing" in terms of diesel or fuel oil.
The next day, the country broke its historical record for electrical deficit with 2,153 MW of generation loss, leaving more than 70% of the population without electricity.
Venezuela halted its oil shipments following the capture of former president Nicolás Maduro, Mexico virtually suspended its supplies in January 2026, and the only relief, a Russian shipment of 730,000 barrels that arrived on March 31, was depleted by early May.
The 20 buses represent a minimal addition compared to an interprovincial fleet operating at 39% of its capacity, in a country where the price of gasoline in foreign currency has risen to 2.60 dollars per liter and the price in the informal market has reached between 4,000 and 6,000 Cuban pesos per liter.
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