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Cuba repairs 20 of the 100 buses in its China-backed program and admits fuel is not secured
State company Caisa handed over 20 Yutong buses on Saturday, November 7, rebuilt with parts donated by China and assigned to Havana's Santiago de las Vegas terminal; the head of the capital's bus company said he is still working out how to keep them running, according to 14ymedio and Diario de Cuba.
The handover took place on Saturday, November 7, at the Evelio Prieto Guillama bus plant (Caisa) in Guanajay, Artemisa, attended by Transport Minister Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila and China's ambassador to Cuba, Hua Xin. They are 20 of the 100 buses the repair program was meant to return to service, and they are earmarked mainly for public transport in Havana.
The project is running far behind. In July 2025, when China shipped the first components, Caisa managers said they could repair 5 buses a month and deliver between 40 and 50 before the end of that year. More than 15 months after that announcement, only part of the program is finished, according to 14ymedio.
The rebuilt vehicles are rigid Yutong ZK6118 buses. The program covers 60 units of that type plus another 40 articulated buses, all belonging to Havana's provincial transport company and withdrawn from service through breakdowns and wear. The Chinese shipment included engines, tyres, batteries and other parts.
What is not guaranteed is the fuel. Henry Rodríguez Terrero, director of the capital's transport company, admitted there is no settled solution for keeping the buses on the road: “It is far too early to say how we will make this sustainable given so many constraints, but we are studying several options to stabilise the service.” The same official said the vehicles had come out “practically new.”
Caisa's general director, Iosvany Frías Álvarez, said the repairs saved more than $2.5 million by avoiding the purchase of new buses, and credited workers who reorganised their shifts around the hours when power was available. Some components that did not arrive with the donation had to be made in the plant's own workshops.
Diario de Cuba collected reactions on a Facebook page devoted to transport: “Very good. But what about the fuel,” one user wrote; another replied that “the shortage of buses and fuel is so big that putting those vehicles into service won't even be noticed.” Several commenters also questioned why all the buses went to a single terminal, when the repaired fleet included vehicles from La Lisa, Lawton and Cotorro. Official reports do not explain how they were allocated or which routes they will cover.
Sources: 14ymedio · Diario de Cuba
Data updated: 2026-11-08T16:15:00.000Z