At another time, the Malecón would have been filled with queues around the kiosks that this weekend sell drinks and different dishes as part of the 503rd anniversary of the founding of the town of San Cristóbal de La Habana. Now, however, customers walk past the counters, read the prices, and most walk away without buying. The most frightening numbers are those for beer: 250 pesos a can of Cristal, the brand that once accompanied so many family parties and that filled Cubans with pride.
“Now it is easier to find a Corona, a Heineken or any other imported beer than a Cristal. When you find it, hold on, it is the most expensive one they sell,” lamented this Saturday afternoon one of the curious who approached a small improvised bar under a blue canvas and with a metal platform a few meters from the Hotel Nacional. “There is no one who can explain why a product that is made in this country is more expensive than another brought from Holland or Mexico,” added the man who finally left empty-handed.
Known as “Cuba’s favourite,” Cristal has been disappearing from store shelves and restaurant tables in recent years. Its national production, in the hands of the mixed company Cervecería Bucanero SA, is not experiencing a good moment due to the lack of liquidity, the instability in the arrival of raw materials and the devaluation of the Cuban peso, which is increasingly pushing the Cuban beers for sale exclusively in markets in freely convertible currency or in trade portals on-line.
“Now it’s easier to find a Corona, a Heineken or any other imported beer than a Cristal. When you find it, hold on, it’s the most expensive one they sell”
The ground lost by local beverages has been filled by countless foreign brands that are not stable either. “You come one day and there is a good lager German and the other one is gone and what you have is a Chinese beer”, complained another client who finally opted for a nationally produced malt, also at 250 pesos a can. “When has there been a popular celebration in which people are far from the drink kiosks? It is that they are scared as soon as they see these numbers, “he questioned.
Inflation and the economic crisis have combined for the capital to commemorate its birthday with lackluster parties that arouse little enthusiasm among Havanans. The city of fast-paced nightlife and bars that seemed to never close, has been filled with phrases like “Do you remember?” or “Before we had…” Cristal beer, which refreshed so many throats and fueled the revelry, has also joined the long list of nostalgia. The drinkers, who once extolled its flavor, have changed even the epithet that accompanied it. It has gone from being “Cuba’s favorite” to becoming “Cuba’s loser.”
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