US Fuel Exports to Cuba Spur Chaotic Black Market
The first significant U.S. fuel landings are feeding a black market and prompting Cuba to open its energy sector to private investment.
- Since February, 900,000 barrels of U.S. fuel have reached Cuba under a Commerce Department exception, launching a chaotic black market and shifting the island's tightly controlled energy sector.
- Under Washington's long-standing oil embargo, the loss of traditional suppliers Venezuela and Mexico in January forced Cuba to authorize private businesses to import fuel, departing from state-controlled energy policy.
- Black-Market gasoline prices peaked at $10 a liter this spring, while private wholesalers advertise fuel on Facebook and Instagram, allowing those who can afford it to power generators and vehicles.
- Nearly 200 Cuban businesses have received permission for wholesale fuel distribution, yet sociologist Mayra Espina warns that expensive private fuel further entrenches inequalities for residents dependent on failing public services.
- Cuban lawmakers approved sweeping economic reforms in June to open the energy sector to private investors, though U.S. export rules prohibiting government diversion remain difficult to monitor, experts note.
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