A Cuba without May Day? This is what happened.

Severe fuel shortages forced Cuban authorities to cancel the International Workers’ Day parade, which was taking place today.

The event usually brings together hundreds of thousands of people dressed in red, waving flags and banners in support of socialism and the Cuban Revolution.

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But Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución, which features a giant statue of the island’s national hero, José Martí, won’t look that way this May Day.

In recent weeks, Cuba has had to face the fuel shortage throughout the island, due to lack of supply from supplier countries, according to its president.

The country’s weak economy has also made it difficult for the government to import its own extenders to refine the low-grade crude it receives, or to buy higher-grade crude that requires less refining.

Cuba habitually consumes between 500 and 600 tons of fuel a day, according to what the President declared last month Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Now, he said, the island has less than 400 tons a day.

“We still don’t have a clear idea of ​​how we’re going to get out of this,” Díaz-Canel said.

Although the main May Day event in the capital has been cancelled, Ulises Guilarte, head of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba, said last week that the celebrations would continue to take place in local communities, schools and workplaces in conditions of “maximum austerity.“

However, given Sunday’s heavy rains and strong winds in Cuba, it is possible that even some of these minor events could be postponed.

For the past month, Cubans have suffered from a severe fuel shortage that has crippled the island’s already ailing economy.

Traffic is stopped.

Queues have formed for miles at gas stations, and some drivers are even sleeping in their cars.

Taxi drivers charge exorbitant rates.

Some universities have returned to online classes.

Restaurants and bars have lost customers.

The National Theater of Cuba in Havana even canceled a concert by the national symphony orchestra due to lack of fuel.

Now Cuba has canceled the May Day parade.

The last time the show was canceled was in 2021, in full coronavirus pandemic.

Díaz-Canel has denied that the crisis is the result of Cuba’s ineffectiveness or state institutions.

Instead, he attributed it to countries like Venezuela, fuel supplier for years – who “have not been able to meet their commitments” because “they have also been in a complex energy situation“, She said.

It is not the first time that Cuba has suffered from a fuel shortage.

But with no relief in sight, analysts and residents fear it could be one of the worst.

In recent years, the combination of tightening US sanctions and the pandemic has destroyed one of Cuba’s pillars:

tourism industry.

Food has become even more scarce and expensive, lines at poorly stocked pharmacies begin before dawn, and millions of people experience blackouts for hours every day.

Since the beginning of 2022, more than 330,000 Cubans are immigrants to the United States, most of whom reach the southern border by land, according to US government data.

In previous years, Havana workers would set up scaffolding and screens to prepare for the parade.

On Sunday, however, the Plaza de la Revolución seemed deserted. Only a handful of cars were parked there, with a mural of the Che Guevara watching them through the rain.

One of the cars was a black 1959 Chevrolet convertible.

“There is little work, because there is little tourism, and you can’t work a lot because you have to save fuel,” said Yosvel Sosa Vargas, 37, who rents the Chevrolet and works as a driver for tourists.

Sosa Vargas said he would not participate in the celebrations.

“This year, if I don’t work, I won’t come,” she said.

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