‘Everybody is under stress’: Edmontonian in Cuba waiting for flight back to Canada

A group of Edmonton vacationers have been struggling to get home from Cuba. CTV New Edmonton's Amanda Anderson reports.

An Edmonton woman is waiting in Cuba, hoping that she is able to fly back to Canada Tuesday evening as planned.

“I hopefully will be flying tonight to Toronto,” Hazime Gokce told CTV News Edmonton during an interview that morning from her resort in Varadero, where she and friends spent the last week.

“You can see chaos. Everybody is under stress. They don’t know what’s gonna happen.”

Gokce called the week-long trip a “nice vacation” until a couple days ago, when loved ones began reaching out to see if she was OK.

It was around that time that Cuba began consolidating tourists in hotels to conserve resources.

Cuba’s energy crisis has deepened since the U.S. captured Venezuela’s then-President Nicolás Maduro in January. Cuba has not received oil shipments from its former ally since then. Oil exports from Mexico have also stopped coming in.

Unable to refuel on the Caribbean island, Canada’s major airlines have since suspended service to Cuba.

“Air Canada started to cancel their flight until May to Cuba, so we got panicked. We ran to the desk, we tried to get some information from them, and we didn’t,” Gokce recalled of hearing the news.

Air Canada, WestJet and Air Transat have all confirmed, however, they plan to bring Canadian travellers home.

Gokce’s return flight is booked with WestJet. Tuesday morning, she was trying to remain positive.

“I am assuming that will happen, but we are not sure. Anything can change. I don’t want to think in a bad way,” she told CTV News Edmonton.

She also feels for Cubans, who will continue to be hurt most by the political developments.

“There are long lines for gas. You need to go to the gas station early in the morning. If you are lucky, you can get gas,” Gokce said.

“One of the employees was telling us she was not able to go home because there was no gas. She was stuck at the hotel. She told us that yesterday she was hoping she will go today, hopefully, home and see her family.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Kerry McAthey and The Associated Press