A video posted this week on Facebook shows a Cuban pouring vegetable oil —apparently from the brand Misol, commonly used for cooking— directly into the fuel tank of his almendrón to get it running, due to the inability to obtain gasoline or diesel on the island.
The images were posted by the user Bryan Anniel Prado Diaz and have amassed over 42,000 views on the platform.
In the video, someone is heard commenting sarcastically, "Let's see how the Cubans make fried plantains now," referring to the fact that cooking oil ends up in vehicle engines instead of in the frying pan.
The liter of gasoline on the black market reached a price of 4,000 Cuban pesos in February, while diesel fluctuates between 1,500 and 3,000 pesos.
Vegetable oil, which in the informal market has been priced around 1,500 pesos per liter, is comparatively more accessible or at least easier to obtain, which explains its desperate use as a substitute.
On May 6, Cubans poured oil into a tractor's engine due to the shortage of diesel. Farmer Juan José Martínez Serrat also modified his tractor to run on used cooking oil, while another Cuban managed to make his car run on charcoal through gasification.
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