The fire department and the Fire Protection Agency (APCI) of Guantánamo warned about violations in the handling of fuel by private businesses and demanded compliance with safety regulations, under the threat of fines, confiscations, and legal actions.
The alert responds to the increase in private sector activity following the approval of the opening in June 2026, when the National Assembly of People's Power authorized non-state management forms to import and market fuels, breaking the state monopoly that had controlled the entire chain until that point.
Lieutenant Colonel Wilmer Ramírez, head of the province's fire department, noted that the main irregularity detected is that marketers request certification of their premises only after they have the fuel in their possession, when the proper procedure requires certifying the location before acquiring the fuel.
"Permits are being requested when fuels are available," stated Ramírez, who clarified that those who do not comply with the regulations "may be fined according to the established Decree Law, and may also be subject to legal action depending on the severity of the violation; if they are repeat offenders, the product can be confiscated."
In the entire province of Guantánamo, about 15 people are in the certification process for fuel storage, but only one case has been approved in the capital municipality. The others are processing permits in areas such as Baracoa, Yateras, and El Salvador.
The APCI specialist Pastor Walton Martínez explained that the procedures require a request to the National Institute of Territorial Organization and Urbanism for the micro-location, approved and signed by the fire department, followed by the certification of the deposits by a specialized entity.
One of the most dangerous violations they have found is the use of plastic tanks to store large volumes.
“Many want to store it in plastic tanks in large quantities, for example, 30,000 liters, a figure for which it is difficult to comply with regulations, such as the containment wall, which is very hard to implement for that volume, so all the fuel would be lost in case of a fire,” warned Walton Martínez.
The engineer Ismael Vargas Delgado, an APCI specialist with 35 years of experience, listed other frequent violations: lack of grounding systems, absence of retaining walls, insufficient ventilation, and the mixing of different types of fuel in the same space.
"We have seen oil and gasoline together; they cannot be within the same wall," he pointed out.
Irregularities were also detected in transportation: fuel is not always transported in specialized vehicles, and on some occasions, it is discharged into residential areas, with hoses laid out in the middle of public streets.
The risk associated with the careless handling of fuels is etched in the collective memory of Cuba with the fire at the Supertank Base in Matanzas in August 2022, the largest industrial disaster of its kind in the country's history, which resulted in 17 fatalities and over 100 injuries after compromising four tanks.
"We are talking about safety, about protecting the client's assets, the lives of the workers who handle that fuel, and those who live nearby," concluded Vargas Delgado, who emphasized that the certification will not be granted until all requirements are met.
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