Cuba: government tries to alleviate food shortages

Cuban authorities on Thursday announced the sale of additional food from state-subsidized food baskets, as well as the free distribution of products from donations from other countries, nearly three weeks after protests that rocked the island.

Read also: Between repression and Covid-19: Cuba in the twilight of Castrism

“Increasing the food supply is a priority for the government, which will distribute three extra pounds of rice to each person each month

,

the Commerce Ministry wrote on its Twitter account. These three books are in addition to the seven (460g) already sold to each Cuban on a monthly basis. This measure,

in foreign currency,

the ministry also announced. Trade Minister Betsy Diaz explained that the government could guarantee the supply of these foods through MLC (Freely Convertible Currencies) stores, where products are sold exclusively in foreign currencies.

The government had decided in July 2020 to create these specific markets to recover currencies, but they also created inequalities within a population used to a certain egalitarianism, fueling the anger of the streets.

Unpublished events

Food shortages caused by the economic crisis and the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic were the drivers of the unprecedented protests of July 11 and 12 which left one dead, several dozen injured and led to hundreds of arrests.

The monthly food basket, which is sold through a small notebook distributed by the government to every Cuban living on the island, is made up of several staple foods such as rice, oil, sugar, salt, pasta, chicken, eggs, etc.

The Cubans explain that they cannot live on the food provided for in the notebook, but they recognize that the situation is made more difficult without such a notebook, due to the little food available over the counter, especially since the beginning of the year. start of the pandemic. Betsy Diaz also indicated that donations from other countries will be distributed in the form of packages, one per family, gradually and free of charge.