The abundance of scarcity
For: German Quintero
January 04, 2022
precariousness for the Cuban population. For December 31 of last year, the government distributed rum and cigarettes to the entire population, assuming that rum and cigarettes would alleviate the situation of discontent. The government did not take into account that an important part of the population, not only children and pregnant mothers, does not consume rum or cigarettes, either because they are not part of their consumption habits, or simply because the products are of poor quality. .
These state courtesies, obtained in the warehouse through the Booklet, were resold at more than five times the value established by the regime. Last week, independent media denounced the fines imposed on citizens who wanted to resell products that they did not consume in order to complement a fragile basic basket, lacking eggs and milk, but full of cigarettes and poor quality rum.
The year 2021 will be remembered as one of the most difficult for Cuban citizens in terms of consumption, after the Special Period. Tourism income and remittances were strongly affected by the tightening of some of the embargo measures, of the health measures to mitigate the pandemic and, above all, by the spectacular failure of the regime's administrative management, which since the implementation of the Ordering Task at the beginning of that year, where in addition to not promoting domestic production, unifying the Cuban peso with the CUC, promoting the MLC and ignoring the situation of the international market, it was unable to meet the import quota and implemented sufficient measures to maintain or increase internal production. Cuba's economic crisis and the scarcity of goods is largely due to this implementation, which also had the misfortune of coinciding with the rise in international prices of consumer goods and a spiral of prices that shot up and moved away out of reach many foods that were obtained in foreign currency.
For the sample, a button: the levels of fishing -affirmed government officials- would not return to those of three decades ago . The fishing laws of 1996 and the most recent of 2020 still do not have the necessary tools to be able to bring fish to the tables of Cubans. How is it possible that on an island, which has not only the sea but also important river sources, it is not easy to procure fish? How is it explained that there is an overexploitation of fishing resources on the island, but there is a shortage of this food? According to official sources, the annual per capita consumption of fish was 16 kg; today it barely reaches 3.8 kg. In short, following official data, each person in Cuba eats about 300 grams of fish per month.
This year's forecast is no better than 2021: Going into 2022, essential foods continue to be in short supply and the prices of inputs such as beef, pork, rice, milk, butter and beans are rising. The concern among the population is widespread: some people seek solutions through the rituals of "feeding the land" of the Santeros, while others prepare social mobilizations that echo the cries of "we are hungry" and "freedom" of the 11J demonstrations. Added to this is the massive migration of many of the political dissidents who have been forced to leave the country due to the pressures to which the political regime has subjected them.
The panorama of economic crisis in Cuba and the consequent food crisis will be one of the greatest challenges to be faced for this year. The 13% drop in the Gross Domestic Product during 2020 and 2021, as well as the reduction in tourism issues, will be important burdens that will make a dent in the food supply. For now, ordinary Cubans will continue to have to trade rum and cigarettes for basic necessities.
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he year 2021 has ended with a situation of extreme
The article only came to make "official" a reality that was already evident at the popular level, months ago self-employed workers have had difficulty accessing the purchase of wheat flour, for what bread and other derivatives have become luxury products. One of the main issues aired in street debates is the difficulty of mothers to provide their children at least two loaves a day, one at breakfast and another at snack time, an equation that is complicated for those who have more than one child at school age.
These families, who usually supplemented the scarce supply of standardized bread, with what they could purchase through the network of state or private bakeries, have been limited by the price increase. Today a bag of eight or ten loaves oscillates between 180 and 350 cups without the supply remaining stable. Although the price in state bakeries is lower, the stability of the product is subject to scheduled power cuts and the supply of flour. In addition, the lines to buy this product can reach up to five hours, an unthinkable time for people who have to comply with work hours.
Teresa is an 80-year-old retiree, lives alone and ensures that her diet basically consists of bread and milk, two products that are currently difficult to access. Until recently, he bought bread at the bakery near his home, but according to him, the queues have become unbearable and some end up with the intervention of the police due to to violent fights. On some occasions, he waited for the resellers and bought the same bread for a slightly higher price, still affordable to his checkbook, however, with the shortages of the last few days and the inspectors' stalking, the price has skyrocketed and now he barely survives with the bread from the cellar.
One loaf a day was the minimum food that low-income people on the island could aspire to. It was also the rationality to which each member of the family nucleus “had the right”, which is popularly “played by the winery”. Since the monetary rearrangement policy, regulated bread ceased to be a product subsidized by the State and its price increased ten times, without this implying an improvement in quality. This condition has placed a wide range of population in greater vulnerability, increasingly deprived of economic resources.
According to figures revealed in the 2021 Statistical Yearbook, published by the National Statistics Office the number of beneficiaries and information (ONEI) of social assistance shot up in 2021 by 111%[two], which means that more Cubans have joined the list of extreme poverty and completely depend on the State to survive. This can be verified when walking the streets of Havana , where the number of people begging in the doorways or "diving" in the garbage tanks in search of food and other necessary supplies is increasing.
The repeated power cuts that occur throughout the country show other damage caused by this energy crisis. Some time ago, the quality of the food that arrives at state outlets, smaller than normal, acidic or simply absent, has further diminished. Although the issue is not new, the fuel crisis also affects the transfer to the points of sale, an action that is often carried out without the minimum hygienic-sanitary conditions, so the bread is transferred and stored in dirty spaces, exposed to insects. and humidity.
Contrasted with all this is the existence of a functional market that gains more space in the lives of those with relatives abroad. In online mode and offering a wide range of products that are scarce in the rest of the freely convertible currency (MLC) stores or in the almost extinct stores in Cuban pesos (CUP), there are hypermarkets such asSupermarket23eitherMallHavana, where they offer a way to acquire quality bread, in the variety that the customer wants and without quantity limitations. Accessing these products on a regular basis is unthinkable for ordinary Cubans, however some self-employed workers, owners of paladares, restaurants or rental houses report that on occasions they have been forced to access this market in search of bread. as the only alternative to scarcity and to avoid having to close their businesses permanently.
La trilogía pollo, perrito y picadillo ha sido avalada por los gobernantes cubanos, como el único alimento proteico que podemos consumir los cubanos de a pie, sin más trabas que las colas y la burocracia que enrola el acceso a estas compras. No es un secreto que la carne de res en los mercados en moneda libremente convertible (MLC) es inalcanzable para quienes no reciben remesas, mientras que el mercado negro es una opción demasiado riesgosa. La carne de cerdo se ha posicionado en el mercado como un producto de lujo, con precios extremadamente caros, a los que tampoco se acceden con facilidad; por su parte el pescado, hace años dejó de ser una opción para la media de los habitantes de esta isla.
Read all of German Quintero's columns on the Food Monitor Program HERE