Vehicle registration plates of Cuba

New Cuban licence plates that use FE-Schrift (since 2013)

The current vehicle registration plate system of Cuba was introduced in May 2013. Current plates are European standard 520 mm × 110 mm, completely replacing the previous system introduced in 2002. The international vehicle registration code for Cuba is C.

1920s-2002

From the 1950s through 1978, and again from 2002 through 2013, plates were North American standard 6 × 12 inches (152 × 300 mm).

Image	First issued	Design	Slogan	Serial format	Serials issued	Notes
	1929-1930
	1935-1936
	1939					July expiry
	1950					official
	1955					January expiry
	1955					July expiry
	1956					January expiry
	1956					July expiry
	1957					January expiry
	1957	white on black				July expiry-black version
	1957					July expiry-green version
	1958					January expiry
	1958					July expiry-white version
	1958					July expiry-red version
	1959					January expiry
	1959					July expiry
	1960	yellow on light blue				January expiry
	1960	black on white				July expiry-white version
	1960					July expiry-aqua version
	1961	yellow on black				January expiry-last semi-annual plate
	1962	black on white
	1974					municipal-colors varied
	1974					municipal-colors varied
	1978	black on orange-yellow
	1978	black on white
	1978					Government
	1978					Diplomatic
	1978					Company
	1978					State
	1978					Taxi
	1978					Tourism

2002 format

Cuban vehicle registration plates contained three letters and three numbers. The colour of plates is also an important identification element. Ordinary (non-special) licence plates have also a number on the lower central part of the plate ranging from 0 to 9, denoting the type of the vehicle. As of 2016, some of these plates are still in use, but are being phased out. Particular refers to privately owned vehicles. The letter denotes the expiry month: E = Enero (January), J = Julio (July).

The first letter denotes the province where the licence plate was issued. Until 2011, "B" was used by the former La Habana Province.

Province	First letter of licence plate
Pinar del Río	P
Artemisa	?
Mayabeque	B
Ciudad de La Habana	H
Matanzas	M
Cienfuegos	F
Villa Clara	V
Sancti Spiritus	S
Ciego de Ávila	A
Camagüey	C
Las Tunas	T
Granma	G
Holguín	O
Santiago de Cuba	U
Guantánamo	N
Isla de la Juventud	I

The second letter identifies the type of vehicle owner.

Second letter	Colour	Meaning
A	white	government ministers, provincial officials, and other important state persons
	light brown	authorised government and official persons of lower rank
E / F / G / H	yellow	private vehicles
K	yellow	vehicles and motorcycles owned by foreign natural persons
	light brown	vehicles and motorcycles owned by foreign and mixed companies, foreign journalists, religious institutions
R	yellow	private motorcycles and "cocotaxis"
D / S / T / U / V / W	blue	state owned vehicles
Y / Z		state owned motorcycles

The vehicle type number can be found on the lower central part of the plate, it is a one digit number ranging from 0 to 9, it denotes the type of the vehicle. This is not used on special licence plates.

Image	Design	Notes
	black on yellow	private vehicle
	white on orange	private vehicle-note Cuban plates are often repaired and repainted by their owners as they become weathered
	black on orange	private vehicle
	white on azure	state owned vehicle
	black on reflective green	Ministry of the Interior
	white on black	diplomatic
	white on dark red	tourism
	white on brown	joint venture company

2013 revised format

Under the new system black characters on white background is the standard format for all licence plates. A letter is placed before six digits. The most common is "P", which indicates a personally owned vehicle. "B" government, "F" is for military FAR vehicle, "M" is for Internal Affairs Ministry, "T" for rental units, "D" diplomatic, "E" embassy, and "K" for foreign companies. The same system is used on all classes of vehicles, from lorries to motorcycles. However, to accommodate available space the motorcycle plates are square rather than the standard long rectangle.

Special licence plates

1961 Guantanamo Bay Naval Base plate

Cars of the Cuban Army and the Cuban Ministry of Interior use plates with one letter (A, B, C, F or S) followed by five digits. On the cars of the Cuban Army there is a "FAR" (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias) inscription in the central lower part of the licence plate. In the case of the Ministry of Interior, there is a "MININT" (Ministerio del Interior) inscription. Licence plates of the Army are always light green, while plates of the Ministry of Interior are dark green.

Diplomatic cars use 6 digits without preceding letters. There is a "D", "C" or "E" letter in the lower left part of the licence plate (D = diplomatic, C - consular, E - other status). They have a black licence plate.

Cars for hire have a dark red licence plate beginning with "T" letter (meaning turista), followed by five digits in white color. The border of the plate is also in white.

Provisional licence plates are light red and have the normal code of the province followed by 4 digits and a "P" letter.

Cars of the United States military in the Guantanamo Bay use licence plates with one letter and four numbers, and texts "U.S.N.B." and "Gtmo Bay Cuba".

References

• CUBA 2006 UPDATE, by Jean-Emmanuel Chevry
• License Plates Of The World, Cuba
• Where's That Vehicle Come From?
• Cuba Transportation Number plates
• Cuba Maniaks
• In Cuba, license plates tag drivers, not the car
• Pictures and information about Cuba's license plate (in Spanish)