The bus terminal in Matanzas, once a bustling transit point in the city, now remains completely empty of vehicles in the middle of the afternoon, with not a single bus available to destinations such as Havana, Jabón, Colón, or Jovellanos.
Images captured by the user Lenier Landa in a Facebook reel have sparked a wave of comments from Cubans remembering what that space used to be.
"That's how the afternoon is at the Matanzas terminal, look at the number of cars, and a follower just told me it wasn't due to the fuel shortage," Landa says in the 29-second clip.
"I didn't really understand your comment because there are no cars here for Havana, for Jabón, for Colón, or for Jovellanos."
The scene contrasts with what was historically one of the most active transportation hubs in the province. According to data from the newspaper Juventud Rebelde from 2017, the terminal managed between 3,000 and 3,500 passengers daily and had 34 platforms fully operational.
The visible collapse in the video is the result of years of accumulated deterioration. In September 2025, only 63 out of 129 buses were operational in the province, just 48.8% of the available fleet.
By February 2026, transportation in Matanzas was nearly paralyzed: only one daily service on the Havana–Matanzas route, with no intermunicipal or urban routes available.
The underlying issue is the fuel shortage. In May 2026, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, publicly admitted that Cuba had "absolutely no fuel oil, nor absolutely any diesel."
On August 6, the UN acknowledged that it is in contact with several countries to try to secure fuel for the island for humanitarian reasons, in light of the "serious scarcity issues" the country is facing.
The Ministry of Transportation responded to the crisis with successive cuts. Since June 18, national buses between Havana and the provincial capitals have changed from daily service to three departures per week, and trains to the east have been reduced to one round trip every 16 days.
In light of the lack of state transport, the private sector has attempted to cover part of the demand. In July, a private route from Matanzas to Havana began operations with daily departures at 7:00 a.m. at a cost of 3,000 pesos, an amount that is unaffordable for most residents of Matanzas. A link to Colón departs at 4:15 a.m. under the same scheme.
Additionally, the physical terminal has been temporarily operating at the Central Terminal of La Jaiba Railways since October 5, 2025, while major repairs are being carried out on the original building, which had serious issues with beams, ceilings, and the plumbing system.
In Ciego de Ávila, to gauge the magnitude of the problem on a national scale, in March 2026, only two out of 135 bus routes were operational, a statistic that illustrates that Matanzas is not an exception but part of a widespread collapse of public transportation in Cuba.
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