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A traveler arriving from Miami reported that he was unable to pick up a rental vehicle at Antonio Maceo Grajales International Airport in Santiago de Cuba on May 14, despite having reserved and paid for it from the United States about a month earlier.
The Facebook user Raynier Arjona documented the situation in a video that garnered over 110,000 views, in which he recounted that his companion Michael had been stranded at the airport since 7:30 in the morning, unable to travel to Guantánamo.
"We have been here at the airport since seven-thirty in the morning and we haven't been able to get to Guantánamo. My friend Michael, who came from Miami very early, I repeat, hasn't been able to get to Guantánamo because unfortunately there are no rental cars available at the moment," Arjona stated in the video.
The affected individual specified that the situation was not an isolated one: "This is something that has happened to everyone who arrived this morning, May 14th, here in the city of Santiago de Cuba. And the response is that there are no cars available."
The comments on the video reveal a systematic and recurring pattern that affects multiple travelers at that airport and others across the Island.
Users reported wait times of five to over 12 hours to receive a vehicle, deliveries of cars in poor condition—with parts tied with wire, lacking air conditioning, or damaged—and gas tanks almost empty despite having paid for a full tank.
"I arrived on April 30, I went through immigration at 11 am and they didn't give me my car until 5 pm, and it was dirty and almost out of gas, even though I had paid for it to be full," wrote a user.
Another commentator described the usual practice: "The customer makes a reservation, but the one who needs a car without a reservation pays a premium to the landlord and is the one who drives away with it. Then they come up with a justified lie for their personal benefit."
"They rent the cars and they're ghosts, because when you go to pick them up, they tell you there are no cars available. Well, what about the one I rented from you and paid for? Where is it?" summarized another user.
The fuel shortage appears to be the underlying cause of the collapse of the service. In April, the leader Miguel Díaz-Canel publicly acknowledged that Cuba "absolutely lacks fuel for almost everything," while the UN warned that the Island had been without sufficient supplies for over three months, leading to a systemic impact on transportation, health, water, and telecommunications.
The context further exacerbates the situation for the Cuban diaspora: tourism in Cuba dropped by 48% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, and travelers from the United States decreased by 53.8% in February 2026.
Despite this general decline, those who do travel—mostly to visit family—rely on car rentals to cover routes such as the one from Santiago de Cuba to Guantánamo, which is approximately 80 kilometers, with no reliable public transportation.
"That has been happening for a while. When there is a car, it has no gas, and if not, it needs maintenance. In short, you arrive early and leave extremely late, it’s stressful," summarized a user in the comments of the video.
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