In the new state store in Holguín, the cheapest motorcycle costs $ 2,130

Holguin/“Come, know the available models and accelerate towards your next adventure!” This was announced on Wednesday on the Facebook page of Caribbean stores, in Holguín, the opening of the Universal, specialized in the sale of motorcycles. What they did not specify is that the adventure will be only for those who have dollars, and that prices are those who are truly “accelerated”.

14ymedio He approached the place, on the central highway, to learn about details about his products. “This was a hardware store in MLC” (freely convertible currency), says a client who lives in the area and entered only to curly. “In a couple of weeks they remodeled it and now took it to sell motorcycles and pieces, but in the currency of the enemy,” he added, in reference to the only purchase route is through dollars or international cards.

The opening of this trade is framed in the Caribbean Store strategy, also known as TRD (currency collection stores) and owned by Cimex, which belongs to the GAESA military conglomerate. For years, Cimex and Caribe monopolize the commercial “high -end” products network in Cuba, always in foreign exchange, with the declared objective of capturing dollars in the middle of the government’s financial asphyxiation.

In the Universal, some clients pointed out as a positive aspect that motorcycles, of China Haojue and Japanese brands Suzuki – with factories in China – were “ready to pass them through transit and put the sheet.” In this way, they save buyers the annoying procedures of the documentation for the registration of the vehicle, a process that in Cuba may take months and is plagued with endless bribes and paperwork.

However, not everyone present were satisfied. “What I don’t understand is that they only sell combustion motorcycles,” said a client. “It is not only about the price of gasoline, which is already a problem, but about the headache that represents using the Ticket application, because they spend months and the number does not reach you.” Another buyer, more pessimistic, added: “And, how are the blackouts, what do you plan to load an electric motorcycle?”

As for prices, the cheapest motorcycle costs $ 2,130, which is equivalent to 862,650 Cuban pesos, to the change of the informal market. To dimension the distance with the majority pockets, it is enough to remember that the average salary in Cuba, according to the official newspaper this week Workersis 6,649 pesos. So, to acquire the most economical motorcycle, the full salary of almost eleven years should be saved, without spending a penny on food.

In practice, the purchase becomes a luxury reserved to those who have relatives abroad willing to send remittances, or the new private entrepreneurs that prosper in the incipient MSME sector. State workers, which still constitute the majority of the workforce, are totally excluded.

Payment is made with international magnetic cards, such as classic. In case of not having one, the customer can acquire a prepaid card for four dollars in the store itself and load it with currency cash. “There are those who only come along the card and leave without buying anything,” acknowledges a cashier from the premises. This mechanism makes Caribbean stores a space for collection of dollars in cash, a resource that the State desperately needs to finance imports.

On the Facebook page of Caribbean stores in Holguín, an Internet user asked if I could pay in MLC, the digital currency in which similar products were sold a few years ago. The response of other users was sarcastic: “You are reading old newspapers,” one joked. Another was more forceful: “Forget the MLC, that ‘that man’ is already dead.”

The case of the Universal is not isolated. In recent years, Caribbean stores has converted multiple establishments in “premium products” spaces that only accept dollars. From air conditioning and appliances to used cars and now new motorcycles, the pattern is the same, inaccessible prices for the average citizen and destined to capture dollars from emigrants.

On the street, perception is clearer than in the conditional offices of the State. “This is a mockery,” says a young man who looks at the motorcycles from the sidewalk without daring to enter. “The Cuban on foot cannot do not dream about this. This government is spending the motorcycle selling us.”