Havana Without Flour

By Francisco Acevedo

HAVANA TIMES – Ever since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the issue of bread has been part of the daily agenda for Cuban leaders from Punta de Maisi to Cape San Antonio (the eastern and western extremes of the country).

The deep economic crisis affecting Cuba has made it increasingly difficult for the government to fulfill its commitment to provide each citizen with a tiny bread roll every day.

As with many other things, Havana has operated under different rules, and the days when this commitment wasn’t met could be counted on one hand — until this week, when the capital went five days without receiving this precious staple food, which is essential for many households that cannot afford to buy bread at non-subsidized prices. The bread rolls are often used to ensure school snacks for children.

The longstanding shortage has led to chaotic pricing for baked goods, which can be found in private shops or sold by street vendors loudly hawking them in the streets.

The same bread — of questionable quality and weight, made in state-run bakeries lacking proper hygiene — is sold in state stores for a few cents, while street vendors can charge up to 30 pesos for each roll, sold in plastic bags with 8 to 10 pieces. In Santiago de Cuba, reports indicate prices can reach as high as 50 pesos per unit.

Vendors often justify these prices by claiming that the cost of flour and other ingredients has risen, and lax oversight from authorities has allowed for a wide range of baked goods, including cookies, with widely varying prices.

According to official statistics, state bread production in Cuba has fallen by 34 percent over the past six years. As a result, social institutions like hospitals, schools, nursing homes, childcare centers, the Family Assistance System, and workplaces that relied on subsidized bread rolls have been affected.

Last September, the Cuban government announced it was reducing the size of the rationed bread rolls from 80 to 60 grams, along with a price reduction from 1 peso to 75 cents.

At the time, the measure was justified by a shortage of wheat flour and the need to “guarantee supply,” but six months later, the situation has only worsened, culminating in this week’s complete absence of bread rolls in Havana.

Bread production resumed this Saturday, but the missing rolls from the previous days were not distributed retroactively.

The collapsed state transportation system for basic goods also contributes to delays in delivering both ingredients and the finished product to stores. Often, bakery workers must cover transportation costs out of pocket. Naturally, they recover these costs by producing extra bread — made by skimping on ingredients in the standard rolls — and selling it “under the table.”

In recent months, leaked videos from meetings, even at the provincial level, have occasionally surfaced in which officials admit that they could only guarantee enough bread rolls for one day at a time — a sign of how tense the situation has been for a while.

The Cuban Bread Company, the main entity responsible for supply, has for decades faced criticism over the quality of its flagship product — a far cry from the bread once sold in now-defunct convertible peso stores or available at free-market prices.

A recent viral video showed an official trying to explain on a state TV program why the bread smelled like cockroaches.

On a show aired by TV Yumurí, a station in the province of Matanzas, the director of food production for the Provincial Food Company, Daniel Yon Aguiar, said: “People compare it to cockroaches, but nobody has actually eaten one. It’s the smell of aged grain,” attributing it to flour being stored in silos without proper conditions. Unsurprisingly, sarcastic comments flooded social media.

There have also been numerous viral videos of elderly people engaging in physical fights over bread in crowded lines — a reflection of the high levels of social tension in the country. It’s worth noting that even the timing of bread distribution lines is unpredictable; although they are supposed to start early in the morning, bakeries can begin distribution in the afternoon as if it were nothing.

As recently as March, during another (shorter) bread crisis, officials from the Food Industry claimed that flour supplies were secured for March and part of April — but clearly, there was a gap.

In response to the current situation, authorities announced that a wheat shipment had begun to be unloaded in Havana to start milling on the island and ensure the supply of rationed bread. However, the return to the original bread roll size — which wasn’t ideal to begin with — is still nowhere in sight.

Just a month ago, Havana officials stated that flour production was stable at the three mills located in the capital, ensuring supply not only to Havana but also to eastern and western provinces.

Together, these mills are expected to produce no less than 360 tons of flour daily for Havana, Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Mayabeque, Matanzas, Isla de la Juventud, Camagüey, and the five eastern provinces — but this target is missed almost every day.

With all these difficulties, it’s nearly impossible to ensure that the so-called “daily bread” is available throughout the country.

Read more from Cuba here on Havana Times.