Cuba Fuel Shortages Spark Fistfights, Cutbacks

CUBA – As the gas lines grow longer, tempers in Cuba are growing shorter. Since mid-April, Cuba has struggled with its most dire fuel shortage in years, prompting comparisons to the severe disruptions Cubans suffered after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Reports say late night fist fights have broken out at gas stations between drivers accusing one another of cutting the line – even among foreign diplomats who have their own gas station assigned to them.

Cuba’s communist-run government has blamed U.S. economic sanctions for the disruptions, but also conceded in state-run media that the countries that traditionally supply the island with oil have not been sending promised fuel.