SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- More than 11,200 children in the province of Matanzas have not been able to receive their quota of fluid milk during the last week, due to the collapse energy that left Cubans without electricity service for five days.
According to what was reported on the networks of the local official media Gironthe massive blackout prevented the milk from being properly cooled before processing.
Eddy González Hernández, general director of the Provincial Dairy Products Company, explained to the press that without electricity, milk cannot be cool in the collection network, which is why it arrives at the factory in non-optimal conditions for its pasteurization process and subsequent distribution. “This becomes acidic and thus cannot be consumed,” he clarified.
Among the most affected municipalities is Matanzas, mainly the Peñas Altas route, where the milk could not be distributed this Tuesday and they still owe about 600 liters.
The municipalities of Colón and Cárdenas are also among those with the highest issues.
According to the manager, this Wednesday they expect to receive approximately 15,370 liters of milk and will subsequently begin distribution along the affected route, Peñas Altas, but the amount to be delivered will depend on the state of the product.
“At this time the country does not have powdered milk to replace the existing damage. We had a reserve of half a ton and yesterday it was decided to distribute it to our neighborhoods or routes that had an impact for five days in a row,” he said.
However, the forum members commented on Facebook that powdered milk did exist in the stores in MLC and they wondered if it could not be used for the population.
“In the Atenas store in Cuba, from the TRD company (that is, the one that belongs to the FAR) I saw powdered milk at 8.00 MLC, obviously, since we are a country blocked by Yankee imperialism, that cannot be offered to Cuban children without families abroad,” said a Cuban.
“There is plenty in the stores along MLC and in the hotels in Varadero too, which doesn’t matter to them because it’s not their children who are going hungry… Shameless is what they are…,” added another.
On Friday a collapse unprecedented energy crisis that left the country in darkness. In some areas, service was recovered for two or up to five hours a day, but others experienced a continuous blackout for more than 72 hours.
In the midst of the days of blackouts, a 13-year-old girl from Havana died after not having kept her insulin refrigerated due to lack of electricity.
Estela Mora, a friend of the family living in Spain, contacted CubaNet to make the report because the family is afraid of the repercussions, which is why they prefer not to detail the name or other information about the little girl. The minor He had diabetes since he was two years old and injected himself with insulin twice a day.
“When taking the evening dose, it seems that it was in bad condition (due to the change in temperature, the heat, whatever). At the moment, the little girl collapsed (fainted); Her parents thought it was due to a diabetic coma but she did not make it to the hospital alive,” Mora explained.
According to what he said, in the hospital, that he did not have service electric, there were police. Some doctors tried to justify the death due to family negligence but one doctor put on the death certificate that, apparently, the insulin was not in a good state of conservation after the father refused to sign as the cause of death an alleged multi-organ failure.
