SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- This Wednesday, August 28, the Ministry of Domestic Trade (MINCIN) reported on the distribution of the quota of the family basket corresponding to August, but the Cubans confirmed that almost nothing has actually arrived at the warehouses, and they denied the authorities’ claims.
A note on the Facebook profile of the Government of Havana socialized that in the establishments From the capital, the distribution of five pounds of rice per person, two of sugar, 10 ounces of beans, 30 of peas had begun.
In addition to these products, they confirmed that they had completed the delivery of 14 boxes for children aged 0 to 2 years, and 11 months and 29 days.
Finally, they included salt, whose distribution corresponding to the third quarter (June, July and August) “continued.”
In a Facebook post created by our editorial team, the population refuted the MINCIN and revealed that just a few days before the end of the month, the products did not appear on the shelves of the dilapidated warehouses.
Users of Centro Habana agreed that theirs had arrived only a small bag of rice and a pound of white sugar, something unusual for those from other provinces who have stopped receiving it a long time ago.
In Guanabacoa, they said that only a 1 kg bag of free rice, black beans and peas arrived, but they had not even delivered the milk that the children were entitled to, a “sad reality.”
In Cojímar they confirm the same situation: sugar, bagged rice and peas “with bugs” but in Marianao they only refer to peas and the bag of rice “and the month is already coming to an end”.
The other Cuban provinces
Outside of Havana, one of the least gloomy scenes was Santa Clara, where they received meager portions of sugar, along with two kilograms of free rice, 20 ounces of peas per person, the quota of cigarettes, and meat for children.
“I live in Cárdenas (Matanzas) and the only thing that has come into the store where I buy is the grocer,” joked one person about the lack of options at his establishment.
A resident of Palma Soriano, a municipality in the province of Santiago de Cuba, said that 10 ounces of peas, five pounds of rice and two pounds of sugar arrived at his warehouse, “without words.”
In Colón, Matanzas, they obtained two pounds of rice, two of “wet” sugar and the rest of the products “are conspicuous by their absence.”
Camagüey received a two-pound bag of rice and two pounds of “turbinada” sugar: “No one can tell me it’s white,” and nothing more.
The same was true for the inhabitants of Sancti Spíritus (two pounds of rice and two of sugar), plus a “handful” of beans that “have to be eaten quickly because they are just getting hot.”
For Guantánamo there was “donated rice,” peas, black beans, two pounds of white sugar “and that’s it.”
To Manzanillo, Granma, two pounds of sugar and two of rice, but one Internet user said: “I think that’s enough because as ‘they’ say, ‘do more with less.'”
Will the basic basket disappear?
Delays in the distribution of the standard family food basket have “exceeded the limits” in recent months.
Products such as oil, grains, meats and the much-prized sugar have been continuously absent from warehouses, something that “has worsened the already dire food situationto the point that many cannot even guarantee one meal a day,” according to Santiago residents consulted by CubaNet.
Ensuring the existence and distribution of the standardized basket is a task that has exceeded the capabilities of the Cuban Government, which tends to make excuses and place the responsibility for non-compliance on port management, distribution mechanisms and even to the weather.
With that scenario, many Cubans They are once again considering the end of the ration book, a fear that had previously been denied by the regime.
However, at the beginning of June, the Cuban leader, Miguel Díaz-Canel He called not to wait for what the basic basket brings and to “prepare food”His statements caused great discontent and fueled opinions predicting the end of the ration card.
