By Martin Silva Rey HAVANA (AP) \u2014 A worsening fuel crisis across Cuba is testing the island’s famed \u201calmendrones,\u201d the vintage American cars that serve as vital shared taxis and embody the island\u2019s ingenuity and endurance. These days, many of the iconic gas-guzzling antique cars sit idle, casualties of fuel shortages that have gripped Cuba since January and that Cuban officials blame on a U.S. energy blockade. Outside his modest concrete-block home on a dirt road in Las Minas, a town of about 2,000 people on the outskirts of Havana, Diriel Valdez is restoring a 1951 Chevrolet Deluxe. The burgundy body is intact and the original engine still works. Finding fuel for it, however, is another matter. Valdez is among thousands of Cubans waiting for fuel through a government reservation… <\/p>\n
By Martin Silva Rey HAVANA (AP) \u2014 A worsening fuel crisis across Cuba is testing the island’s famed \u201calmendrones,\u201d the vintage American cars that serve as vital shared taxis and embody the island\u2019s ingenuity and endurance. These days, many of the iconic gas-guzzling antique cars sit idle, casualties of fuel shortages that have gripped Cuba since January and that Cuban officials blame on a U.S. energy blockade. Outside his modest concrete-block home on a dirt road in Las Minas, a town of about 2,000 people on the outskirts of Havana, Diriel Valdez is restoring a 1951 Chevrolet Deluxe. The burgundy body is intact and the original engine still works. Finding fuel for it, however, is another matter. Valdez is among thousands of Cubans waiting for fuel through a government reservation... <\/p>\n