A Cuban mother reported on Instagram this Saturday that the polyclinic she visited denied an ambulance to transport her son, who was in severe respiratory distress, claiming a lack of fuel. This was despite the fact that her son is a minor with cerebral palsy, has a tracheostomy, and is fed through a gastric tube; he was showing changes in coloration and required constant oxygen.
"There is no fuel to take my son to a hospital. A child who right now has to be transported with permanent oxygen because the lack of air prevents him from breathing, he is changing colors," the woman, identified on social media as NailaVlog, reported, visibly distressed in the video.
Faced with the clinic's refusal, the mother was forced to look for private transport without knowing how much she would be charged. "I'm running around like crazy, trying to find a car, a car that I don't know how much they'll charge me to take me there," she said.
She added that she knew she would have to face the situation alone: "I know it's my responsibility, as always. But I'm hopeful that everything will turn out well," she stated.
The situation is not isolated. The Ministry of Public Health (Minsap) acknowledged that the ambulance system meets less than 40% of the national emergency demand, and in June 2026, the province of Granma was operating with only 17 of the 54 ambulances it required.
In February, the head of Minsap, José Ángel Portal Miranda acknowledged before the National Assembly that the healthcare system was "on the verge of collapse", with blackouts lasting up to 20 hours and ambulances running out of fuel.
The paradox that outrages Cubans is that while there is no fuel for ambulances, there is fuel for police patrols and political events. In Santiago de Cuba, it has been documented with photographs how police vehicles were fueled without restrictions while the population waited in lines for days.
The comments on the video reflected citizen outrage. "There’s no fuel, but if you tell them I’ll pay you, they pull it up from underground," wrote one user.
Another was more direct: "If you shout freedom or Díaz-Canel, that's when they'll show up with fuel to repress you."
A third person commented, "There's no fuel for those things, but there is for the marches and events."
The pattern of deaths due to lack of ambulance services repeats itself. In April, Alexis Rosales Aldama died in Santiago de Cuba after waiting more than four hours for an ambulance that did not arrive in time.
In May, a man passed away in El Vedado and the ambulance that arrived hours later only placed a sheet over him and left without collecting the body.
The UN and the access of patients to medical care throughout the island, describing the situation as "deeply troubling."
On June 11, the United States sanctioned the state-owned Cupet, accusing the regime of diverting fuel for private jets of the Castro family, buses for political events, activities related to the repression of citizens, and tourist hotels.
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