LAS TUNAS, Cuba. — In another time, not so long ago, “in Cuba there was still a bit of humanity,” said an old man in a queue where he could not find his two essential companions to buy rationed chicken.
The man spoke of that time of the convertible Cuban peso (CUC), whose convertibility was a sophistry, because they were only exchangeable on the Island, yes!, with a real exchange rate equivalent to the US dollar.
“At that time, if someone did not have more than a few CUC cents to make a soup, they could go to a Currency Collection Store (TRD) and buy a bag, even if it was with two chicken thighs,” said the old man.
It turns out that, in that era, before the “Ordering Task”, when there was enough chicken in Cuba imported from the United States, in the TRD they took the trouble to disassemble the 15-kilogram boxes of chicken thighs or quarters and then pack them. in bags of up to half a kilo or something like that, which could be worth less than two CUC, equivalent to 50 Cuban pesos or two US dollars.
In the TRD they understood that some had more than others and they marketed chicken meat in accessible packages to the pockets of those who had less. But now it is not like that. Now, when a family has to buy chicken in TRD controlled by the ration card, you have to manage as best you can in a trio, like that old man, who couldn’t get two partners.
At present, the corporate state that is Cuba does not collect foreign currency in the TRD in the manner of the other era, but in the MLC stores (Freely Convertible Currency). I don’t know for what reason, without merchandise to sell or foreign exchange to collect, some TRD keep that name: they continue to be called Currency Collection Stores and, as the saying goes, “from Easter to San Juan” they sell “chicken by boxes” in Cuban pesos .
Yes, the reader should not be surprised, in Puerto Padre, and who knows in how many other places in Cuba, from time to time, TRD sells “chicken per box for three”. This sort of password (“chicken per box for three”) means that a 15-kilogram box of chicken must be distributed through the ration card among three family groups, regardless of how many people make it up. And, listen to me, if buying chicken in MLC stores is usually an odyssey, imagine what it will be like to buy it for the ration card in the TRD.
At a little more than 600 pesos a box, you cannot buy it by yourself, but between three people, who may be strangers to each other, from whom one must collect the money, the ration books and go to the queue for the vouchers. -I authorize, a ticket registered in the ration trade warehouse where you buy.
But it may happen that this guide person —finding himself in the queue to receive the authorization vouchers that confirm that you are a customer of the rationed products store and that that day it is your turn to buy chicken at TRD—, before getting hold of the vouchers, meet two relatives or two friends, and break up the trio you are in (as happened to that old man) to form another triad with the people of your choice. So the outcast must restart the odyssey of joining up with two other people so they can go get the box of frozen chicken, and then somewhere down the street, on a sidewalk, in a park, or at someone’s house. of the three buyers, disassemble the box by beating it against the ground to loosen the ice and, without a scale to weigh what corresponds to each one, but rather carefully, divide the unequal pieces of chicken between three parts, “equally”, for three families.
It is, without a doubt, an impossible task, “because not all chicken slugs are the same size and not all chicken boxes have the same number of slugs,” said the old man from Puerto Padre. And, certainly, some boxes have the required weight, but only 22 chicken quarters, so a portion will have to be cut into three parts, which will never be equal without the use of a scale.
If at the beginning of the crisis and the shortage, which is already chronic, the TRDs, by government decision, began to sell basic necessities according to the registration of rationed trade -and in the case of chicken, weighed and sold according to the value- I authorize with the number of the ration card, that equitable distribution was forgotten, now there are three families that must unite to buy the product.
According to the legislation in force for the Ministry of Domestic Trade (MINCIN), “the rights of the consumer are inviolable by the providers and inalienable by the consumers”, and the provider is obliged to develop “the productive activity and services” adopting “ethical and conduct standards” that avoid “abusive or deceptive commercial practices that harm the safety, health and interests of consumers. But the laws of Commerce say one thing and another is the odyssey that Cubans are experiencing at this time.
Receive information from CubaNet on your cell phone through WhatsApp. Send us a message with the word “CUBA” on the phone +1 (786) 316-2072, You can also subscribe to our electronic newsletter by giving click here.
