Cuba: Dollar Store Lit Up, the other Pitch Dark
When the 3rd and 70th MLC store went dark, customers had to rely on flashlights on their phones to get out.
HAVANA TIMES – The US dollar store at 3rd and 70th in Miramar, Havana, has been crowned the king of all the shops of its kind on the Island. Compared to its sister stores, opened in other provinces, and, above all, to the outdated stores in MLC (the devalued magnetic dollar), the luxury and privileges of this commerce are difficult to emulate in today’s Cuba. The excess lighting that was exhibited this Friday, while neighboring buildings suffered a blackout, says it all.
Located at the foot of the luxury hotel Gran Muthu Havana, customers in the dollar only store calmly chose the products from well-stocked shelves. The refrigerators full of minced meat or ham, the shopping carts and the long, well-lit corridors contrasted with the total darkness of the MLC store, on the same corner but on the sidewalk in front, after the power was cut off.
Soon the dark supermarket emptied, and only the privileged customers across the street remained who, greenbacks in hand, carried rice cookers and indispensable bags of rice, in addition to cooking oil, cookies, beer and pasta. There were lines at the refrigerators and the checkout counters, and Cuba – at least there during that privileged moment in a stocked and clean supermarket – did not seem like a country in absolute crisis.
Without dollars to buy the products most in demand or even enjoy electrical service, customers in the nearby MLC store reached for their phones to turn on the flashlight.
At the checkout counters, the saleswomen organized the payments received before the power cut and waited for the last customers, uttering insults, telling them to leave the maze of shelves. Only when they left and saw the well-lit US dollar store across the street, they understood – in the words of a sweaty woman who left the store – what it is to shop in “Socialist Cuba.”
Translated by Regina Anavy for Translating Cuba.
Hola. I just came from Varadero after two weeks. Tipped well. Travelled lots. Did lots. Not many tourists. Food not the best. Many ill. No medical. Take pepto immodium. Also hydrocortisone. Bugs in some hotels near beach. I fared ok. Many didn’t. Cubans so beautiful but poor. Maids make $20 per month. In restaurants 25 per month. Internet down every day. No phones in hotel rooms. Cubans have no power. Hotels do. Cubans cook on bbq coals. All family live together to make ends meet. Tip well quietly. Leave what u can for them. Need personal hygiene items. Luv hair gel. Shampoo. Deordant. Many on streets beg. I didnt give to them. Hotel and travelling i did. I saw no churches. Don’t know a thing about their govt but don’t believe it gives a damn about Cuban people. Viva Cuba someday
I read a comment that Cuba is in your heart and will continue to go and tip well. And I can see that you meant it to helpful to the Cuban people. However, those people you are tipping in tourist places are not the true “Cuban People”. This country has been under communism for over 60 years. It has completely destroyed the country itself. And people are literally starving and dying from lack of food as well as medical care. When you visit Cuba, you’re giving your dollars to the Communists. That gather it together and enjoy it and divide it amongst themselves and put it into more tourism. The people that are starving, homeless and in need of medicine can’t find it because there’s no medicine either. They are the ones that are suffering. Look up the truth of this country and how the treatment of its people is degrading and absolutely not humanitarian.
Cuba desperately needs Bitcoin! Give the People back their power!
As I have mentioned on HT many times, people have been writing Cuba’s obituary since the fall of the Soviet Union. Now, facing the collapse of the electric power grid, Cuba is frantically making plans to survive in the dark. You would think, now more than ever, the end is near. The Russians and the Venezuelans are in no position to save Cuba and the Chinese will throw Cuba a bone here and there but seem to have no interest in becoming Cuba’s next sugar daddy. Who else is left? Turkey? Iran? Maybe Brazil? Not likely. They have their own economic problems. And, for the first time since forever, the Castros don’t have the pressure-release valve of sending dissidents en masse to Miami. Instead, these pain in the butts will remain in Cuba causing problems. The trifecta of revolution seems to exist: discontent among the middle-class, an overfed and disinterested leadership, and the lower class with nothing left to lose. At this point, all we need is a match…
My heart is in Cuba and it’s people. I will continue to travel there, tip well, bring gifts and support families through supermarket 23. All my love.
The only way the Cuban government socialist/communist dictatorship will end is by ending all relations with all foreign countries. Restricting all incoming flights from the US. Restricting the money to go into the country. Restricting the incoming packages, etc…. Otherwise the families that have family in the US are being supported by us and the government feeds off of that. Cuba needs to hit rock bottom. But when it hit rock bottom the country will cry for help and the United States will hear their plea and will come to terms. I have faith that someday there will be a democracy in Cuba.
Life will improve dramatically as soon as the Cuban people get rid of their government. Cuba Libre !
Shopping w/ USDs relatives send from abroad. With the salarios the Cuban dictatorship pays, nobody can buy anything@
Yes I seen pictures 5 liter containers of water cheaper than black market peanut butter many spice cherries cheese but twice the price of food basic or no frill in Canada another dollar had new car batteries battery charger rechargeable lights oil even new 2000 watt generator inverter in U S dollars while working people can not afford rice at 250 pesos or eggs at 100 peso or allergy medicine but available in dollar stores