Havana Cuba. – On September 23, 2021, at the United Nations Summit on Food Systems, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez he claimed: “Despite the obstacles, the Cuban Government, with extraordinary efforts and despite shortcomings and difficulties, guarantees the universal right to food through the standardized basic family basket that all Cubans receive, and which includes 19 products staple foods at affordable prices.
The designated president of Cuba was referring to the rationing of food and other supplies that we Cubans have suffered for more than six decades by means of the so-called supply booklet, whose true objective is not only to control the food deficit, but also to create in citizens a very useful dependency as a tool of domination, especially against people in a more vulnerable situation, such as the elderly, single mothers, etc., who after the shortage at the end of the month anxiously await the expensive and exiguous ration of the days 1 .
And to further aggravate the critical situation of these people, the lines at the warehouses are getting longer every year, since many of these establishments have been closed due to collapse or danger of collapse, and their clients have been added to those that still resist . And don’t even think about avoiding that annoyance: whoever waits until the end to avoid standing for hours runs the risk of running out of food, since the rations are almost never complete.
On the other hand, although Díaz-Canel alluded to the items (which are also not as many as he claims) he does not mention them, nor does he refer to the amount of the monthly rations. It is nothing less than 10 ounces of black beans, 10 ounces of peas, seven pounds of rice, half of oil, three pounds of refined sugar and one pound of brown sugar, one and three-quarter pounds of chicken, five eggs, half pound of bologna or alternatively half a pound of “seasoned” hash (never both), a quarterly packet of salt depending on the composition of the core, four ounces of coffee of the worst quality imaginable and a daily loaf of bread that should weigh 80 grams. In addition, a liter of soy yogurt, now without sugar, only three times a week for children, although the factory spends more time closed than in operation.
In addition, the elimination or reduction of items is advancing incessantly: diet milk for the sick has disappeared since mid-2021, as has the monthly ration of pasta. The egg allocation was cut from 15 to five units per person. The laundry soap, smelly and of poor quality, is now only for people over 65 at the rate of a monthly tablet, although it has not been sold since August, since the delays are also felt: in mid-October the soap had not been sold either. coffee nor the September chicken.
But it is that in addition to the above, it must be borne in mind that the products of the “family basket”, by themselves, are not enough for 30 days or for a complete and varied diet, so to cover the most basic needs of the month it is imperative to acquire many other foods. At one time, alternatives could be found in the markets for food products, the so-called bodegones, warehouses re-adapted to sell corn and wheat flour, peas and varieties of beans, sugar, cheese, ham, butter, meat and smoked products, among others. other foods, freely at a price higher than the quota, although affordable. Today, some of these products, but not all of them, can only be found on the black market at prohibitive prices rising to par with the dollar, or in stores in freely convertible currency (MLC), to which only a few Cubans have access. .
The Cuban people are running out of options. And it is that to face the absurd prices unleashed with the “ordering” money is sometimes not enough even with the help of relatives abroad. The end of a regimen is inexorable when mothers have no food for their hungry children. The Cuban people are running out of options… but also without fear.
OPINION ARTICLE
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