Santa Lucía Izaguirre González has been driving in Pinar del Río for half a century, but she had never driven an automatic vehicle until, at 70 years old, she was assigned one of the 10 new Dongfeng Box 01 electric taxis designated for transporting hemodialysis patients in that province.
Her first experience behind the wheel of the electric car can be summed up in one sentence: "When I sat here for the first time, I was frantically looking for the gear lever, because I was used to driving manual cars, and when I was going to shift gears, I would look for the lever, and when I was going to park, searching for the emergency brake; but here everything is buttons, with the brake pedal and the accelerator; this is divine, there’s no physical effort needed."
Izaguirre started working as a taxi driver in 1976, when the agency took over the transportation of renal patients after the closure of hospital pick-up services, and has not abandoned this work since then.
He is now part of the group of 10 drivers selected to operate the new vehicles, three of whom already had experience in the hemodialysis service, while the other seven come from the same company.
The taxi driver also spoke about the patients she transports: "They say they are difficult people, spoiled, but you have to put yourself in their shoes. Do you know what it's like to depend on a machine every other day? They have their traits due to the illness, but I’ve never had any problems with them."
Izaguirre, who says she feels as in love with her profession as she did on the first day, summarizes the philosophy that guides her work with a statement: "You have to leave your problems at home."
The 10 electric vehicles are from the Dongfeng brand, model Box 01, imported by the Ministry of Transport and financed by the Public Transport Development Fund.
Yuri Lozano Suárez, director of the Taxi Agency in Viñales, which is under the management of the Taxi Company Cuba, described the addition of the new fleet as "a breath of fresh air" for an area where more than 170 patients receive hemodialysis and where until now 83 combustion vehicles were responsible for all those transfers.
According to Lozano, the electric vehicles will generate an estimated saving of over 120 liters of fuel daily and will cover routes from the main city to the municipalities of San Juan y Martínez, San Luis, and Consolación del Sur, with a declared range of 353 kilometers per charge.
"The main objective is to transport hemodialysis patients, but the treatment lasts four hours, and during that time, five cars will cover the route from the hospital to FrutiCuba, while the others will go from the same destination to the Cavada stop," the executive specified.
Drivers will receive a salary exceeding 18,000 pesos plus 70% of the income generated from the transportation of additional passengers, through a commercial commission contract.
The initial charging of the vehicles will be carried out from the National Electric System, although there is already an executive project to install a solar charging station with 288 solar panels, contracted with the company Innova, which will enable charging the cars at night and providing services to third parties during peak solar irradiation hours.
The arrival of these vehicles in Pinar del Río is part of the provincial rollout of the national program for 400 Dongfeng Box 01 cars announced in March 2026, of which 200 units were already put into circulation in May of that year, with prior deliveries confirmed in Las Tunas and Matanzas in early July.
The program emerges amid a severe fuel crisis that left Cuba without imported crude oil from December 2025 to April 2026, jeopardizing the transportation of hemodialysis patients in several provinces, one of the most vulnerable groups in the healthcare system.
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