Hunger is Rising: What Does It Cost to Eat in Cuba? (Video)
HAVANA TIMES – The Cuban crisis continues to grow. Communist Party leaders call for resistance without taking the necessary steps to stop families on the island from falling into deeper poverty, claiming supposed “victories” amidst the national disaster.
Don’t miss this video, where we clearly address Cuba’s collapse, its primary causes and those responsible.
The video has subtitles in English.
What is interesting about this video is not the numbers which I believe.
Rather it is a question of how people survive.
. Widespread hunger has of course been commonly reported.
But with with salaries only one fifth of the cost of the monthly food requirements, one would expect widespread starvation.
Remittances must be filling a large part of the gap but informal markets, people working in unreported, non-government jobs and the likely transfer of food products from the farms directly to the populace outside of government markets must also be part of the answer. Cuba’s real GNP is likely to be much higher then generally reported. The informal economy is likely greater than the formal one. It would be interesting if someone could put some numbers on this.
Well written article even the foreign tourists are completely unhappy with limited food selection at twice the cost of many countries
History Stalin did the same thing. Control the food, control the masses. “Collectivization of the farmlands of Ukraine began in 1929. Stalin wanted the country, with its hugely fertile black soil, to be the bread basket of the Soviet Union. He wanted to feed the important party officials and to export its grain abroad to fund his vast industrialization projects. It was an unmitigated disaster. Farmers were no longer paid for their produce but worked according to a ration system based on their productivity. In reality it made them beholden to the party, which, controlling their finances, was able to control all aspects of their lives. And they were no longer able to buy food. “
What does this video outline that the majority of Cubans living on the island don’t already know and sadly and unfortunately must endure ? The economic truth.
Food insecurity, food shortages for the majority of Cubans instigated by a stubborn incompetent, unresponsive totalitarian government beholden to an archaic, antiquated ideology that suits only those in power and the military – the truth.
Cuban pensioners and those government workers bear the brunt of a dysfunctional disastrous top down planned economy. Price inflation year over year at 30% – probably much higher – causing Cubans to make inhumane sacrifices. Does the family send the child to school on an empty stomach or does the working parent use the food money to buy transportation to go to work? Certainly a gut wrenching everyday dilemma for many Cuban families.
As the video points out, aside from the necessary food costs are the other day to day costs such as electricity, clothing, transportation, home repairs, that every family must grapple with. Just the necessary purchase of a simple pair of children’s shoes can set a Cuban family back for months.
The intransigent, inept Cuban leaders are too blinded by their insupportable ideology to even give a damn. The totalitarian government’s propaganda machine can manufacture all kinds of misinformation, falsehoods and the Assembly of Deputies all clap in unisons. To do otherwise is to lose the plum privileges associated with clapping in unisons to fairytale falsehoods.
As the video clearly clarifies, the economic disaster in Cuba today is an internal, I repeat, an internal manufactured malaise, and not the fault of the embargo. Continued investments in hotel construction when the vacancy rate is unacceptable for a tourism destination leaves other critical economic sectors desperately deprived. The agriculture sector, long abandoned, has vast overgrown fields of “maribu” – waste underbrush – as far as the eye can see.
Watch Cuban television and every second word is attributed to the never ending “Revolution” and its supposed benefits and proclaiming unabashingly the make believe future utopia – Venceremos – (We will Overcome). In fact, for the majority of Cubans the Revolution has brought nothing but deprivation and economic disaster. After 66 years of revolutionary regression the Cuban state is certainly not winning, nor overcoming, nor will it ever win or overcome with the present totalitarian government.
These truthful videos about the Cuban country certainly do not astound anyone who has visited the island recently or surprise anyone who is somewhat cognizant of world affairs. The sad, unfortunate, Cuban truth is hard to ignore.