The Cuban reggaeton will open the “2K Mini Market”, a “family business” supplied with imported products.
Miami, United States. – In the middle of the supply crisis and with economic restrictions that prevail for most Cubans, the reggaeton Yulien Oviedo advertisement The inauguration of its own private business in Havana, the “2K Mini Market”, scheduled for next Friday, August 8.
“It seems to me a lie that my family and I will open our own business this Friday,” The Cuban musician wrote on his Facebook wall.
Located on 38th Street, No. 4733, between 40 and 47, in the Kohly cast, in the Habanero de Playa municipality, this “family business” – as has been presented by Oviedo himself – will offer a variety of difficult imported products or even impossible to find in state stores and even in freely convertible currency shops.
Oviedo, known both for his musical career and by controversial statements around the Cuban political system, has documented step by step in social networks the creation of the premiseswho says he raised “in two months” with the help of his family. “This is going to be the Minimarket of the family. Here we will have everything, of all countries, ”he said in A video Published in the YouTube channel Adrián Fernández Clipswhere the place in the process of remodeling and proudly shows the lamps, shelves and refrigeration systems recently installed. “We are going to have all the drinks in the world (…), to Inca Kola Peruana,” he added.
Oviedo’s publications on Facebook and Instagram have been equally explicit. Over there affirms that the business name is inspired by their children Kevin and Khaled – whose initials arises the name “2k” – and stands out That the minimercado accepts payments in dollars, euros, national currency (CUP) and through the Zelle electronic transfers platform, popular among Cuban emigrants. Also announces A future remittance shipping service “such as the Western Union.”
The offer of market products has been documented in numerous photographs published by Oviedo: among visible items are yogurts Yokey (of Canadian origin), oil Fresko Sunflower, canned tuna Altune (Turkish brand), evaporated milk Tropigustocondiments Goyaflour, energy drinks XLsausages, sauces, dairy products and more. It is, for the most part, products not available in official sales channels in Cuba and whose marketing is usually restricted to MLC stores or the informal import market.
This commercial deployment has generated a wave of reactions in social networks, where comments range from congratulatory messages to criticism for the apparent contradiction between the economic conditions of the country and the ability of some sectors of opening businesses supplied with imported products.
“All of the US One of Oviedo’s publications. For his part, Isabel Flores openly questioned the legitimacy of entrepreneurship: “Not anyone or not all in Cuba can do business. Because the Cuban in Cuba lives in misery, hunger, in the oppression of being in a country where there is no freedom of anything. A Cuban cannot pay those prices or putting the luxury of buying merchandise that neither a doctor can afford.”
Oviedo has not avoided confronting his detractors. “It is necessary that Haters Change sorcerer, which is going too well ”, He wrote on June 29 on his Facebook profile.
In response to the doubts of an Internet user, he said that in “this first business” will be dedicated to retail sale but will also offer “little things for boxes.” “We are preparing another establishment where we will sell wholesale,” added the musician.
The current controversy is not the first in which the reggaeton is involved. In 2021, Oviedo was the target of criticism for stating that there was no dictatorship in Cubastatements that contrast with the complaints of repression, censorship and political persecution broadly documented by human rights organizations.
The opening of the “2K Mini Market” puts again on the table the issue of privileges, economic inequality and selective access to entrepreneurship opportunities within the island. Although the private sector has been formally authorized by the regime, legal limitations, bureaucratic obstacles, unequal access to foreign exchange and the lack of transparency in the importation of merchandise – publicly public figures or people with connections within the system – can benefit from this type of business.
To this is added institutional ambiguity. Cuban laws expressly prohibit the importation of products for commercial purposes without state authorization, and most of the products that are exhibited in the Oviedo mini -market are of foreign origin, which raises questions about the mechanism used to enter the country and legally market them.
