Cubans search for holiday food amid deepening crisis
Scarcity and economic turmoil are nothing new to Cuba, but soaring inflation and deepening shortages have made holiday shopping even more difficult for Cubans this year
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Your support makes all the difference.As Belkis Fajardo, 69, walks through the dense streets of downtown Havana with small bag of lettuce and onions in hand, she wonders how sheāll feed her family over the holidays.
Scarcity and economic turmoil are nothing new to Cuba, but Fajardo is among many Cubans to note that this year is different thanks to soaring inflation and deepening shortages.
āWeāll see what we can scrap together to cook for the end of the year,ā Fajardo said. āEverything is really expensive ā¦ so you buy things little-by-little as you can. And if you canāt, you donāt eat.ā
Basic goods such as chicken, beef, eggs, milk, flour and toilet paper are difficult and often impossible to find in state stores.
When they do appear, they often come at hefty prices, either from informal shops, resellers or in expensive stores only accessible to those with foreign currency.
Itās far out of the range of the average Cuban state salary, approximately 5,000 pesos a month, or $29 USD on the islandās more widely used informal exchange rate. Nearby, a pound of pork leg was selling for 450 pesos (around $2.60.)
āNot everyone can buy things, not everyone has a family who sends remittances (money from abroad),ā Fajardo said. āWith the money my daughter earns and my pension, weāre trying to buy what we can, but itās extremely hard.ā
In October, the Cuban government reported that inflation had risen 40% over the past year and had a significant impact on the purchasing power for many on the island.
While Fajardo managed to buy vegetables, rice and beans, she still has no meat for Christmas or New Years.
The shortages are among a number of factors stoking a broader discontent on the island, which has given rise to protests in recent years as well as an emerging migratory flight from Cuba.
The dissatisfaction was made even more evident during Cubaās local elections last month, when 31.5% of eligible voters didnāt cast a ballot ā a far cry from the nearly 100% turnout during Fidel Castro's lifetime.
Despite being the highest voting abstention rate the country had seen since the Cuban revolution, the government still hailed it as āa victory.ā However in an address to Cuban lawmakers last week, President Miguel DĆaz-Canel acknowledged the governmentās shortcomings in handling the countryās complex mix of crises, particularly food shortages.
āI feel an enormous dissatisfaction that I havenāt been able to accomplish, through leadership of the country, the results that the Cuban people need to attain longed-desired and expected prosperity,ā he said.
The admission provoked a standing ovation in the congressional assembly, made up solely of politicians from DĆaz-Canelās communist party.
But Ricardo Torres, a Cuban and economics fellow at American University in Washington, said he saw the words as āmeaninglessā without a real plan to address discontent.
āPeople want answers from their government,ā he said. āNot words ā answers.ā
For years, the Caribbean nation has pushed much of the blame for its economic turmoil on the United States' six-decade trade embargo on Cuba, which has strangled much of the islandās economy. However, many observers, including Torres, stress that the governmentās mismanagement of the economy and reluctance to embrace the private sector are also to blame.
On Friday, a long line of Cubans waited outside an empty state-run butchery, waiting for a coveted item: a leg of pork to feed their families on New Year's Eve.
About a dozen people The Associated Press asked for an interview said they were scared to speak, including one who said āit could have consequences for us.ā
Estrella, 67, has shown up to the state butcher every morning for more than two weeks, waiting her turn to buy pork to share with her children, grandchildren and siblings. So far, she's come up dry.
Although pork is available to buy from private butchers, itās often far more expensive than at state-run facilities, which subsidize prices.
So she waits, hopeful that sheāll be able to cook Cubaās traditional holiday dish.
āIf weāre lucky, weāll be able to buy it today,ā she said. "If weāre not, weāll come back tomorrow.ā