Most countries see hitchhiking as risky behavior best avoided. Cuba turned it into government policy. Government vehicles traveling with empty seats are legally required to stop and pick up hitchhikers—and if they don't, they can be reported and fined.

This isn't some obscure regulation gathering dust. It's enforced daily at hundreds of puntos amarillos (yellow points) across the island, where uniformed officials with clipboards coordinate rides like dispatchers at a taxi stand. Except these "taxis" are military trucks, ministry sedans, and any other vehicle with government plates.

How Soviet Collapse Created a Hitchhiking Nation

The system was born from crisis. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Cuba lost its biggest trading partner overnight. Soviet oil shipments—the lifeblood of Cuba's public buses—dried up. The government had to get creative about moving millions of people around an island roughly the size of Pennsylvania.

Enter la botella ("the bottle"), Cuban slang for hitchhiking. The name comes from the thumb-out gesture, which resembles tipping back a drink. What started as desperate improvisation became institutionalized. By the mid-1990s, the government had built an entire bureaucracy around getting strangers into cars.

The Amarillos: Cuba's Hitchhiking Traffic Controllers

At major intersections and highway exits, you'll find the amarillos—officials in yellow uniforms armed with clipboards and whistles. They ask where you're headed, collect your fare (25 Cuban centavos for in-province trips, about one U.S. cent), and flag down the next government vehicle going your direction.

Government plates are color-coded, making it easy to spot vehicles that must comply. If an official car with empty seats drives past a yellow point without stopping, hitchhikers can report the license plate. The driver faces fines.

Private vehicles have no legal obligation to stop, but many do anyway. Cuba's chronic transportation shortages have made picking up hitchhikers a social norm, not just a legal requirement for bureaucrats.

Still Going Strong Decades Later

China donated hundreds of buses to Cuba in the mid-2000s, improving public transit in Havana and other cities. But the botella system remains essential, especially in rural areas where buses are scarce or nonexistent.

As one Cuban mechanic put it: "The transportation system is screwed." Hitchhiking isn't a quirky cultural tradition—it's how millions of Cubans get to work, visit family, and navigate daily life on an island where owning a car remains a luxury few can afford.

So yes, Cuba really does legally require government workers to pick up hitchhikers. It's perhaps the world's only country where sticking your thumb out is an official form of public transportation, complete with government-employed dispatchers and a fare system that costs less than a penny.

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