The fishmonger on San Lázaro street in Centro Habana had been without supplies for months, but this March 8 it was “dressed up” to celebrate Women’s Day. The offers of the day were reduced to two products: chicken croquette and oyster dough, which was enough to generate a queue of dozens of people, eager to reach something.
“The croquettes are pure flour, they are the kind that you have to fry carefully because they tend to explode, but it is what it is,” said a woman with a child in her arms who had her turn to go in to buy after waiting over an hour in line. “They contain almost no meat or fish.”
“Why don’t they bring real food?” asked an old woman who was also in line but a few meters behind. “The croquettes need oil, but there is no oil. So after I’m done here I have to go out and get the fat. Tremendous woman’s day ahead.”
“Since last year they haven’t sold anything in this fish market and now this is here. You can’t choose, so we’ll buy this,” the lady said ironically.
“The oyster is a small package that you can’t see what it contains,” lamented a customer who came in and after choosing one, refused to buy it because it cost more than 400 pesos. “This may be frozen lemon soda and I’ll only find out when I get home because it doesn’t have a label and the clerk doesn’t know anything about the product.”
Despite the prices and the little varied assortment, the scarcity of recent months has spurred dozens of residents in the vicinity to queue in front of the premises. In the row, the majority were female faces, the same ones that during this event are surrounded by flowers and entertainment in the official photos.
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