Councillor Michael Bondy has returned to the municipality days early after traveling to Cuba with his son on a missionary delivery trip.
On Saturday, United States President Donald Trump announced that America had successfully concluded a military strike against Venezuela and taken into custody its leader, President Nicolas Maduro.
Bondy was advised by his brother, who is experienced in foreign affairs, to return home, as Cuba relies heavily on Venezuela for fuel, and there was a risk that the country could run out, which could leave Bondy and his son stranded there.
“The real concern is that they're going to run out of fuel really quickly, and I had four days to go, so my fear is that planes are not going to leave Cuba because there's not going to be fuel, and then I'm stuck and I'm running out of money and at this point credit cards don't work, there's no ATMs,” said Bondy.
He noted that the airport was full when he was travelling home from the country, but that everyone was also trying to get home while the country still has fuel.
“Things were going a little sideways,” said Bondy. He and his son travelled to the airport by taxi and cab prices were three times the normal rate due to the demand.
"Everybody's getting out of here. I said sign me up,” Bondy continued.
Above and beyond fuel concerns brought on by the capture of Maduro, Bondy noted that he lost roughly 10 pounds while in Cuba due to the lack of food available and that there were very few tourists at the resorts.
“The strangest thing is there's no tourists, like none. The resort that we were at was deserted, it was vacant, so that was a little spooky,” Bondy said.
