VILLA CLARA, Cuba. — As happened last December in these last days of 2022, a large part of the residents of Santa Clara will have to submit to long lines to guarantee food and drink on the 31st. a year”, a strategy that responds to the limited availability of resources in the province to distribute grains, drinks and pork among the more than 294,000 Villa Clara nuclei, according to the official sources themselves.
This Monday the 26th, the areas of the Buen Viaje market and the Sandino stadium woke up crowded with people: thousands gathered on the main avenues that surround the area, hoping to be able to buy a case of canned national beer at 720 pesos and a bottle of Havana Club “Silver Dry” at 225. It would be the first time that the Cimex chain sells alcoholic beverages in public areas and in Cuban pesos since the opening of the stores in Freely Convertible Currency. Nationally produced rum, wine and soft drinks will also be sold, rationed through the supply booklet.
Access to the sales area takes place through one of the Sandino streets, which then leads to a fenced off area where tickets are handed out, a “regulation mechanism” guarded by MININT forces. Further on are the main stalls, a site arranged for the third and last row to buy the products in question. All the avenues surrounding the place remain closed to vehicular traffic as of today.
A large part of those who headed the queue this noon “marked” from the night before or simply stayed overnight: “I arrived at five and there was already a world of people here,” revealed Yolexis Pérez, a Santa Clara native who decided to retire after four hours standing in the crowd. “Out there they are already selling the same bottles of rum at 750 and in Buen Viaje what there is is a tremendous slaughter, people yelling at each other and trying to sneak in,” says the man. Cristal boxes at more than 3,000 pesos each also “appeared” in Facebook groups.
On the edge of the sidewalk, an elderly lady assures that she had a fatigue and another woman who is going home with four bottles and a box of soda confesses that she bought the shift for the value of 600 pesos. Only in the preferential line for the disabled there were a hundred people this morning.
“The Hunger Games have begun” and “this really is the desire to drink beer” two people are heard saying in the place who make fun of the catastrophe. Meanwhile, the self-employed who have stalls near the area raised ten pesos more than their products: “We came out of this stuff,” says one of the vendors who crosses the line with a box of steaming minutes.
“The worst is yet to come,” laments Gisela Méndez at the end of a deafening tumult that she herself describes as “May Day.” In the following days, the sale of preserves, vegetables, grains and on Thursday the 29th of meat, poultry and fish is scheduled. “This is torture, it gives you a jump in your stomach just thinking about what can happen on the day of pork. Yesterday I was looking for cheap rice and the self-employed themselves had it hidden”.
Despite the fact that one of the mandatory requirements to market in the fair areas is to maintain the rates established by the authorities of the territory, many of the private sellers have refused to lower the prices of the merchandise and simply choose to withdraw it from their stalls. .
According to the pricing policy established by the provincial government, pork will cost 180 pesos per pound, mutton at 250, guanajos will cost from 1,500 to 1,800 and “broiler chickens” will cost about 250 CUP. per unit.
“The markets are empty all year and now you have to fight to buy a piece of meat that is not so cheap either,” continues the woman. “If you get into the chicken tail then you don’t get beef, and so on. This fair is not for retirees or for those who work because, as far as I know, neither the 28th nor the 29th are holidays”.
As they have specified local media, the sale is maintained “until there is an offer”, the main reason for the excessive crowds. Meanwhile, in other central provinces they have chosen to regulate a certain amount of products by the supply book.
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