Havana/Dollars in hand, Marcial entered the newly opened market in dollars on the bass of the Focsa building, Havana. The store has joined the partial dollarization that the Cuban regime began last January. But, not even with US tickets clients are free from certain obstacles: without coins to return and with the connection with the interrupted bank, trade works at the middle of the machine.
“We are giving the change in chocolates,” clarifies the cashier with a uniform in which Supermix Market is read, a name known to the Havana after the opening of a place on the 20th street between 3rd and 5th in Miramar. Now, in this new location in the FOCSA, the name of the brand on several walls, the newly released purchase cars and the shelves full of merchandise serve to clarify to any clueless that has entered territory Fula.
“I was not going through here for a while and everything has been painted and the clean portal, although if you move away a few meters from the door, the charm ends,” says a neighbor of the neighborhood that approached to buy chicken mincer. Before reaching the market, the woman had to overcome a man sleeping on the ground right in front of the entrance of the Focsa building, a property considered one of the architectural wonders of the Cuban capital since the 50s.
“I was not going through here for a while and everything was painted and the clean portal, although if you move away a few meters from the door, the charm ends.”
The newly opened market is managed to four hands between Cimex, part of the Gaesa military conglomerate, and the Inversiones Pucara SA (IPSA) company created in Panama by Spanish shareholders. With presence in Cuba since 1997, the company ufana in its profiles in “positioning itself as one of the most respected and notable quality food and quality importers on the island.” It is enough to travel the shelves to verify that it matters to the island from Vinos, through basic foods to pet food.
“It is well all over and the prices are between and high,” says an old woman who has gone with her partner to buy yogurt and powdered milk. The total purchase amount was $ 9.65 and the woman paid with a ten bill. Return, the employee gave him a chocolate treat clarifying that “there are often”, something that did not leave the client at all, although he was already warned.
“They had told me that in the 3rd and 70 market it is also so, but one thing is to hear it and another to live it,” said the old woman before leaving. Behind her, in the next turn in line a Cubañol He paid his bill with a 100 dollars ticket which made the tail. In a form with several columns, the cashier scored the full name, the passport number and the address where the client is “staying these days.”
“Many products on display but does not have a machine to quickly detect if it is a false ticket,” complained the man who had previously asked if he could pay with a magnetic card visa from a Spanish bank. “No, POS (electronic point of sale) have no connection with the bank since yesterday,” explained the worker. “We don’t know what happens, but we are only charging in cash.”
Among the offers of the supermarket are products of the Spanish brands El Pozo, Pascual and the Menorcan, the Italian Parmalat and Ferrero Rocher and the American Pringles, among others. IPSA is also one of the main suppliers of Spanish beer Belfstar, a hard rival for national brands, such as buccanero and glass, hard beaten by production instability.
The general director of IPSA in Cuba, the Spanish Fernando Rovira Murillo, has won the favor of the Official means that they have not only praised Pucara’s work but also Your participation in the International Wine Party of 2023. Qualified by the state press as a “safe partner” and “highly professional”, the firm, which has more than a hundred workers, also has agreements with local private businesses, which offers its services as wholesale supplier.
“I entered nothing more than to take a little fresh air conditioning and I have been amazed with so many lights”
In its El Vedado market, all the lighting lamps give a certain unreal touch to a trade nestled in an area that also suffers the attack of the blackouts: that same day, like the previous ones, with a deficit of 1,820 megawatts, the entire country ran out of light for hours. “I entered nothing more than to take a bit fresh from the air conditioning and I have been amazed with so many lights,” a customer commented with one of the employees. “It is seen that it is in dollars, because this is no longer seen in national currency,” he concluded before leaving.
Others made a thorough record of each shelf in the face of the economic possibilities of the future. “There are many options but I also see products that are too exclusive, while some basic foods are missing,” said a customer near the meat zone. “I think there are few meat options and I thought they were going to have a greater variety of sausages.” A young employee clarifies to the woman that “this is starting and more merchandise is going to arrive.”
The location of the new dollar store could not be more eloquent. The Focsa was one of the symbols of the Cuban bourgeoisie bourgeoisie and with the arrival of Fidel Castro many of his luxurious apartments were nationalized and distributed among reliable officials, ministers and people very close to the highest leader. There they lived Soviet technicians, Latin American guerrillas and foreign artists committed to the revolution.
Now, however, the supermarket on the ground floor of El Vedado’s colossus sells in dollars, the currency that said many of those ancient inhabitants.
