A familiar Cuban queue begins when a newcomer asks, “¿Quién es el último?”—who is last? The arrival identifies the person immediately ahead, then may wait in shade or nearby rather than stand in a rigid line. Under the ration-book system and persistent shortages, this spoken chain has partly separated a long wait from the body’s fixed position.
Apps and electronic appointments have increasingly moved some fuel and administrative queues onto screens. Scarcity does not disappear, however; a digital number may simply reveal that several thousand turns remain. Physical and electronic queues coexist rather than replacing one another.
Quality check: Associated Press reporting directly explains Cuba’s practice of identifying the last person in a shop queue to preserve order, alongside emerging digital rationing.