Havana Cuba. – During the past weekend it was news that on October 20 joint forces of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) and the Technical Department of Investigations (DTI) carried out a police operation in the Fair of 100 and Boyeros, in which they were arrested. more than 30 people accused of reselling chicken, ground beef, eggs and other products that, in addition to being essential, are not easily found in state stores. In accordance with information published in Cubadebate and replicated on other digital sites, a witness even claimed to have counted 400 cartons of eggs seized from a house near the site.
Coincidentally, the day before a neighbor insisted: “If you are looking for wheat flour, go to 100 and Boyeros. If you want chicken, go to 100 and Boyeros. Do you need eggs or hash? Go to 100 and Boyeros. Spaghetti, detergent or mixer taps? In 100 and Boyeros. It is true that everything is expensive there, but one goes to the insurance without having to go around, with how bad the transport is. In short, you have to eat and money is not eaten. Also, to find something in MLC you have to mount it all over Havana and, if you find it, stand in line, not to mention that many stores in MLC are almost always empty”.
And it is that for some time now the fair under the bridge of 100 and Boyeros has been gaining notoriety due to the wide range of items represented there, from shoes to the persecuted beef. There are even those who claim that it is better stocked than La Cuevita, which, in the opinion of some, it has already “dethroned”.
It is also becoming more and more evident that itinerant clandestine resellers have disappeared or only come by late at night, something that good observers attribute to the persecution of the authorities, police and inspectors; hence, so many people go to the Fair of 100 for everything they need, items that the State itself does not sell. For this reason and because of its central location, more accessible to those who live in the western and southern part of the city, the 100 y Boyeros Fair is the first choice of many: parents who go to look for food for their children, plumbers or masons who they need materials or pieces for their orders, Cubans looking for what to wash with or what to put on the table, etc.
After the operation, by the way, the sale of everything, or almost everything, continues, only now it is more expensive and more “secret”. “I usually buy puppies there [salchichas] for my daughter, who has no appetite”, a single father, a regular customer of the Fair, tells me. “When I returned after the operation there was no one. Suddenly, someone I had bought puppies for walked by. I asked him and he replied that they are no longer at 280 pesos, but at 320, that ‘things are bad and there is a lot of risk’”.
And it is that no matter how much the authorities conduct spectacular and exemplary operations from time to time to intimidate the people, the informal market for basic foods is not going to disappear, since it is inherent to totalitarianism. Nor does the regime intend to put an end to that primordial tool of the Stalinist artificial dialectic. Cuban prisons are full of men and women convicted of illegally selling oil, powdered milk or detergent. In each operation a few unlucky ones fall, but as soon as the uniformed men turn their backs, the sale resumes, sometimes even in the same place.
It is clear that what develops the economy, society, what ultimately leads to the happiness of the human being, are freedoms, not oppression. The operations and prohibitions do nothing but increase shortages and prices, and therefore hunger. But that is well known by the Cuban rulers, whose objective has never been to develop the country or eradicate the hunger of our citizens, but instead to increase scarcity to keep the people subjugated.
Where do the quantities of eggs, chicken, sausages or mince seized come from? How is it possible that they slip through the infallible gears of Castroism, whose representatives boast of having their citizens absolutely controlled? This is nothing new, a tactic that has already proven itself over the decades: the state creates scarcity by withholding food and basic necessities. Once this is accomplished, it turns a blind eye to theft and smuggling of those items. Prices inevitably rise and then it is only necessary to divert the hatred of the population towards the “careros” resellers, when the real culprit is the State itself. In this way, it is also achieved that those who steal and resell try to be calm so as not to attract attention, instead of daring, for example, to go out on the street demanding a change.
OPINION ARTICLE
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