From forty to forty cards, not one more. The crisis in the markets has made the leap to state cafeterias and even in the cafeteria of the popular Plaza Carlos III, in Central Havana, it is already impossible to sit down normally to eat a quarter of fried chicken. The store has decided to limit sales and, as if it were just another winery, customers are required to identify themselves so as not to “hoard” the 350 grams of chicken that the store sells for 37 pesos.
The line to buy fried chicken in the central location was abuzz with people this Wednesday when a man, dressed in a sweater that identified him as ‘security’, came out to organize the line and ask customers to present an identity card for person, because he was only going to allow forty to enter.
The jostling and fighting began immediately, epic for a reward as meager as a piece of chicken. Or two, if the one who plays is small. “None of that, you don’t go there,” said one. “I’ve been here for hours,” shouted another beyond. “You are not going to buy in front of me,” argued a third party. Meanwhile, the watchman continued to stop the tumult with his hand raised.
“I’ve been here for hours,” shouted another beyond. “You are not going to buy in front of me,” argued a third party. Meanwhile, the watchman continued to stop the tumult with his hand raised
Plaza de Carlos III is known as the great palace of consumption in Havana and is the largest shopping center after Cuatro Caminos. Its location, in Centro Habana, and its aesthetics, with a characteristic circular ramp to traverse the structure, had made it one of the most prosperous and busiest businesses in the Cuban capital since the 1990s.
Dollarization had turned the old market where food was sold, increasingly withered, into a place with establishments of all kinds, from shoe stores and perfumeries to hardware stores or clothing stores. The ground floor, with gastronomic establishments, was so noisy that the neighbors had complaints related to the sale of alcoholic beverages and fast food in which the crowd gathered wanting to have fun and eat something different.
Now, fallen into disgrace, it barely maintains two stores in national currency and a supermarket in pesos where only the residents of Centro Habana and part of El Cerro can buy as a result of the municipalization of trade that the Government imposed in April of this year. The rest are stores in MLC and a few gastronomic establishments with a minimum offer. The only uproar occurs when the cafeteria, called El Patio, starts selling its famous fried chicken, the only food that can be tasted in the place.
Luckily, this Wednesday the first forty were not the only lucky ones. The queue accepts another quota of forty again when the first group has finished. Until the chicken is gone.
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