The surroundings of the Cuatro Caminos market looked very different this Thursday from what usually happens every two weeks, especially last April 7.
On that day, thousands of people agglomerated in a line that reached almost 20 blocksin which they waited to deliver the card and be listed on the list that determines what day they can go shopping within the next two weeks.
With the entry into force this Thursday of the “municipalization” of the sale in pesos, what some customers sarcastically called “the mother of all queues” has been diluted. Only a few dozen people were waiting at the doors of the establishment.
A police colonel explained to this newspaper that “the card was not collected today” and that those who are waiting are “those who were pending from the other time.”
The collection of documents will be done next Tuesday, this time, following the new regulations, only for residents of El Cerro and Old Havana
The collection of documents will be done next Tuesday, this time, following the new regulations, only for residents of El Cerro and Old Havana. “Once they buy they can’t do it again until next month,” explained the agent, who acknowledged that before, even people from Mayabeque, Artemisa and Pinar del Río used to go there.
The inhabitants of the areas furthest from the center are the most affected by the return to rationing by municipality, advanced on Monday by this newspaper Y confirmed by the official press the next daya measure that was in force to prevent the spread of covid-19 and was repealed in early November.
In the municipalities on the outskirts, the number of state businesses is much lower, which reduces the possibilities for residents in those areas to buy food. In some neighborhoods of Rancho Boyeros, Cotorro, the shortage of premises is dramatic and the neighbors see their situation as part of a discriminatory distribution policy.
The authorities recognized that the decision was made “taking into account the existing situation with the availability of products and with the aim of making sales more viable, achieving greater equity and therefore reducing the agglomeration of people in establishments.” That is, because of the scarcity and to avoid the long queues.
It remains to be seen whether rationing improves the former, but it has been shown that, for the latter, it works, at least with the longest queue of all.
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