PRESIDENT Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermúdez says Cuba has overcome the first stage of fuel shortage with minimum impact. During a meeting to evaluate measures taken in Cuba’s western province of Pinar Del Rio to address the difficult energy situation, President Díaz-Canel blamed the shortages on the US government which has placed sanctions on Venezuela, the chief oil supplier for Cuba.
“We are not going to stop dreaming. Our people will continue to be happy, hard-working, creative, and joyful. This is part of the determination we have expressed to never surrender,” he said. The President of Cuba’s Councils of State and Ministers reiterated that the problem was a result of escalating hostility on the part of the United States towards Cuba, which has included the obstruction of fuel deliveries.
“They are bogged down in Venezuela, the Bolivarian people are defending their revolution, resisting pressures and economic sanctions of all kinds,” President Diaz-Canel. “So the US wants to blame their failure there [Venezuela] on Cuba, and discount the heroism of the Venezuelan people. Given the empire’s inability to force them to their knees, they decided to increase pressure on Cuba and spread the idea that problems here are the result of government incompetency.”
He emphasized the importance of maintaining Cuba’s condemnations of US aggression and ensuring the people’s understanding of the causes of the conjunctural difficulties.
President Díaz-Canel announced that an oil tanker arrived on September 14 as projected and that now the second stage of the response had begun focused on ensuring that the limited supply of fuel lasts until new deliveries arrive at the end of the month and in October, when the situation should return to normal.
“This fight will be won with much organization, much discipline, and by reinforcing austerity and conservation,” said President Díaz-Canel. “The country has overcome this first stage of the fuel shortage with the least impact possible.”