In April 2023, vehicle queues for fuel stretched for blocks around Havana service stations. According to local reporting carrying Reuters' account, drivers waited not merely for hours but for days. Taxi driver Alexander Pérez had held his place for three days, with no guarantee that fuel would be available when his turn finally came.
The queue was prolonged by uncertainty as much as scarcity: neither the arrival time nor the quantity of the next delivery was clear. In a city with strained public transport, fuel for taxis and private cars supports both income and mobility. For people passing the time in cars and along the roadside, their physical place in line was the only dependable order leading toward a delivery that might or might not arrive.