At the end of this post is the 23 May 2023 response to AP from the United States Department of State….

United States Department of State
Washington DC
22 May 2023
Briefing With Matthew Miller, Spokesperson

MR. MILLER: Matt, you want to close us off?

QUESTION (Matt Lee, Associated Press): Yeah, I just – and these will be extremely brief because I think you’ll only have a five-second answer for both.

One, do you know anything about the U.S. embassy in Cuba renting Cuban Government EV cars that are made by China?

MR MILLER: I do not. As I think you —

QUESTION: Okay. Could you —

MR MILLER: As you seemed to anticipate.

QUESTION: Could you – yeah. Well, I just heard about it, so I didn’t think you would have anything, but I wanted to get it out there on the record.

MR MILLER: Thank you.

QUESTION: Can you – could you – or maybe not you, someone look into this and find out if it’s true and what the deal is? I mean, it might be completely innocent. And then the second thing is just the whole email thing from last week, is that – that’s been resolved, right?

MR MILLER: It has been resolved. That was an unintentional glitch. I’m glad that I’ve had the chance to look into this before answering. My colleague Vedant did not —

QUESTION: Yes.

MR MILLER: — since it broke while he was at the podium. It was an unintentional —

QUESTION: Well, I didn’t —

MR MILLER: It was an unintentional glitch. It was an attempt – or actually, the systems team here, the IT team, was looking at ways to allow users, if they want, to select their pronouns and to be displayed in their – in their email address, and it was certainly not the intention to choose them for anyone.

QUESTION: Okay. So it —

MR MILLER: And it has been resolved.

QUESTION: So, it was fixed?

MR MILLER: It has been resolved.

QUESTION: It was – it was fixed that day or —

MR MILLER: It was fixed that day. It was fixed that day.

QUESTION: Okay. And then – but then there was this notice that went around offering people psychological or – help if they were offended or upset by this. Do you know if anyone took them up on that?

MR MILLER: I don’t, but we always look to offer whatever resources are available to State Department employees.

QUESTION: Okay. I’m not trying to make light of it. I’m just asking if you know —

MR MILLER: I don’t.

QUESTION: — that anyone felt strongly enough about it that they went to —

MR MILLER: I know you felt strongly about it, but I —

QUESTION: No, I —

MR MILLER: (Laughter.) I don’t. I’m not trying to bait you, I promise.

QUESTION: I didn’t feel that strongly about it, but anyway, thank you.

MR MILLER: Thank you.

QUESTION (Andrea Mitchell, NBC News): Can I just – can I just follow up on something that Matt had asked?

MR MILLER: What – yeah.

QUESTION: There was apparently a license, an export license, issued more than a year ago to a Maryland-based company to export an electric car and a charger to the embassy, and that four were supposed to be sent, and for some reason, apparently, Brian Nichols did not approve that. So —

MR MILLER: I will say I’m not aware of these reports, and I think I will make it a practice not to comment on things that broke while I was at this podium that I have not had a chance to look into.

QUESTION: Understood.

MR MILLER: So more tomorrow. Thank you all.

QUESTION: All right. Thank you.

(The briefing was concluded at 2:20 p.m.)

Statement from United States Department of State provided to AP on 23 May 2023: "There is a fuel crisis currently in Cuba. In order to maintain operations, the U.S. Embassy in Havana rented numerous electric cars that are available for rent in Havana. They will continue to do so until the crisis abates. There are no American-made electric cars in Cuba available for rent. The U.S. Embassy Havana currently does not operate any electric vehicles in its motor pool in Havana. All Department of State vehicles have a lifecycle and the Embassy is currently in the process of transitioning a large percentage of its vehicles to American-made electric vehicles and expects to have that process completed sometime in 2024. The vehicle needs of Embassy Havana vary daily as does the availability of various models of electric rental vehicles, their cost, and the Embassy offices which are in need of a vehicle."

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