Some Rice is Coming to Cuba from Vietnam
To help face the shortage, Vietnam makes a third donation this year
The Asian country promised to deliver to the island 1,200 tons of rice, the mainstay in the Cuban diet.
HAVANA TIMES – Cuba will receive a shipment of 1,200 tons of rice donated by the Government of Vietnam. The amount equals around a half pound to each Cuban household. Although it is not known when it will arrive, a “symbolic delivery” took place this Monday during a meeting between officials of the Communist Party of the Island and a delegation from Ho Chi Minh City at the Hotel Nacional, in the Cuban capital, as reported by the official newspaper Tribuna de La Habana.
The Vietnamese delegation was led by Nguyen Thi Le, deputy secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and president of Ho Chi Minh City. On the Cuban side the meeting was attended by Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in Havana, and Yanet Hernandez Pérez, governor of Havana, along with other officials.
The words of both parties, quoted by Tribuna, highlight the differences in the discourse that characterize the regimes of Vietnam and Cuba. While the representatives of the Asian country praised the economic achievements of their city, Torres Iríbar limited himself to describing the will of the habaneros to “resist creatively in the face of adversity.”
Nguyen Thi Le pointed out that Ho Chi Minh City is considered an engine of growth for the Vietnamese economy, with a contribution of 23% of the Gross Domestic Product and a generation of exports valued at more than 47 billion dollars in 2022. The Cuban official responded by alluding to the “complex economic situation facing the Island due to the escalation of the US embargo, the effects of COVID-19 and consequences of the weather in recent years.”
Vietnam has become a constant supplier of rice to the Island, whose production is far insufficient to meet national demand. However, these donations have not been enough to solve the shortage, and the price per pound has skyrocketed above 250 pesos, a little over a USD in a country where the average wage is under 20 dollars and many pensions don’t surpass $7.
At the meeting, Vietnamese officials also pledged to promote relations with their counterparts in Havana in the areas of tourism, agriculture, biotechnology, commerce, education, and health, although without giving details of future projects or investments in those sectors.
The Vietnamese authorities also showed interest in “taking advantage” of the experiences of Havana’s Family Doctor and Nurse Program, an “emblem” of the Cuban Government, which in 2024 will celebrate 40 years, focusing on bringing medical personnel to “the neighborhoods.” However, in reality, that has pretty much been left in the past for more than a decade due to the exodus of professionals and the economic crisis.
According to the official press, Torres expressed his “satisfaction” with the meeting to reinforce the “deep bonds of friendship.” A “show” of that friendship is the contribution that Vietnam has made “to the food security of the Cuban people, specifically in the production of rice, coffee, corn and aquaculture,” the text adds.
So far in 2023, this is the third donation of rice to the Island from Vietnam: the first was 5,000 tons in May, and the second, 2,000. It is scheduled to arrive at the port of Mariel in September. Again, the official press avoids mentioning the La Sierpe rice growing project in Sancti Spíritus, abandoned in the middle of last year by Vietnamese technicians due to the lack of compliance on the Cuban side.
14ymedio confirmed this month that producers in the rice region are facing a regulation that will limit the amount destined for self-consumption, implemented by the Government to prevent the product from ending up on the informal market. The regulation also threatens to take away the land from producers who fail to comply with it.
Translated by Regina Anavy for Translating Cuba
Stephen Webster,
You state: Cuba “…needs to restructure the economy and set up a free trade zones . . .” I totally agree with the restructuring notion, and I am sure everyone with some insight regarding Cuba’s anemic economy knows it needs major, major restructuring.
However, “free trade”? With what country/countries would Cuba set up a free trade zone. Cuba has absolutely nothing to export to another country except tourism and that sector has been an abysmal failure. See Havana Times article: (Cuba 2023: The Eloquence of Data, by Manuel Alberto Ramy (Progreso Weekly). According to his data: “*Hotel occupancy in the first half of the year: 27.9% (Note: Our neighboring Dominican Republic registered 78.9% occupancy in the first quarter of this year.)”
You suggest Cubans work with people from Holland on agriculture. On the surface sounds good. But dig deeper and ask yourself: Why would people or more specifically agricultural experts from Holland want to work with the Cuban totalitarian, authoritarian state? Holland definitely a democratic, progressive country has a lot to offer in all areas of economic productivity but do you really think the Dutch would want to be involved with a communist totalitarian country whose leaders do not allow any modicum of freedom for its people? The Vietnamese rice experts were invited to Cuba to work with the Cuban authorities and they left – abruptly. Think about that.
Let’s move on to Canada. You suggest Cubans work with people from Canada on manufacturing. Again, looks good. The Canadian government, specifically the current Liberal government, is so despised today it has no credibility to be seen offering a helping hand to another foreign government. Canadians are currently irate with the spending the Liberals are doling out in foreign aid whilst Canadian citizens without adequate housing are living on the streets of major cities. Canadian help in manufacturing aid to Cuba – not going to happen.
No Canadian government will be helping Cuba on the manufacturing front any time soon. The days of socialist Prime Ministers like Pierre Elliot Trudeau who visited Cuba and had a chummy relationship with Fidel Castro are over. Plus, it is in Canada’s economic interest not to be seen providing direct aid to Cuba as this will antagonize trading relations with the United States, and Canada cannot afford offending their biggest trading partner.
Stephen states: “If the gov made the right moves could turn around the food issue in 18 months.” Stephen, the majority of Cuban citizens have been waiting 60 plus years for this government to make “the right moves” and be able to properly feed its people with the abundant agricultural resources this island has at its disposal. But as has been stated ad nauseam by readers’ the incompetence, ineptness, corruption, mismanagement, ideological intransigence of the current totalitarian government is too overwhelming for any change to take place in 18 months, or even 18 years for that matter.
We all agree with you Cuba absolutely needs economic restructuring. Now, if only those archaic, ideological, intransigent, decision makers decide to take a more pragmatic approach to their economy such as what China and Vietnam has done, then, yes, potential progress can be made in short time.
needs to restructure the economy and set up a free trade zones like and parts of have for light manufacturing of many items from clothing to ebikes and hand tools as co ops . Cuba can not rely on tourism or donations or $ being sent back to families. Many people see that fertilizer and other inputs are needed to turn around agriculture, food processing and reefer transport. Please work with people from Holland on the agriculture and Canada on the manufacturing process. If the gov made the right moves could turn around the food issue in 18 months.
that will keep raul castro and his elite along with the hotels supplied with rice while the rest of the cuban people starve
Cuba is a failed country, a country surviving on handouts. Communism works…until you run out of other people’s money.
Great article however pearl before swines!
Who and what can Cubans blame for their economic demise? Those people in the ivory towers iis an option!
I think Cuba should ‘Blame It On the Bossa Nova’ .. at least that would equal the absurdity of the Cuban government blaming every one else and their donkey and it would be musical!
Vietnam will get tired of being a charity and realize the Cuban givernment just wants handouts and claims the same old rhetoric
“to promote relations with their counterparts in Havana in the areas of tourism, agriculture, biotechnology, commerce, education, and health, although without giving details of future projects or investments in those sectors.” Really!????
Kick the can down the road ideology and standard verbal promissory note intended to somehow compensate Vietnam with some consolation is like verbal diarrea!
Token negotiations for another political handout.
Give a beggar a fish, you feed him for day. Teach a beggar to fish and feed him for a lifetime.
Uncommon common sense in Cuban dictates run away instead of constructive change starting with a political voice of the people expressed in a two party system but in the bull fight the bull only sees Red as it is led to the slaughter!
Just my opinion but I am not the only one!
I am just a distant observer, not Cuban but human. At least Habanatimes is an open portal to some sanity’
Excuses. Excuses. “The Cuban official responded by alluding to the “complex economic situation facing the Island due to the escalation of the US embargo, the effects of COVID-19 and consequences of the weather in recent years.”
The Cuban officials at the encounter were Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in Havana, and Yanet Hernandez Pérez, governor of Havana, along with other officials. What did anyone expect these government representatives to say but to brandish blame for Cuba’s economic problems on anything and everything out there, but where the blame really should be – the incompetent, inept, corrupt Cuban totalitarian government officials.
O.K, we can all agree COVID-19 epidemic consequences had major economic impact on all nations. GDP for all nations was drastically reduced. Production whether it be rice or any other agricultural product was gravely impacted. But look at how Vietnam, a Cuban communist cousin, was able to overcome any negative impacts COVID-19 – which Cuba uses as a crutch in this discussion – had on its economy. It seems very little.
“Nguyen Thi Le pointed out that Ho Chi Minh City is considered an engine of growth for the Vietnamese economy, with a contribution of 23% of the Gross Domestic Product and a generation of exports valued at more than 47 billion dollars in 2022.” Whoa! How about that for economic production during the COVID-19 world wide humanitarian epidemic! Fantastic.
The Cuban officials also blame the “. . . consequences of the weather in recent years” for the fact that the majority of Cubans, were, and today are suffering hunger when they do not need to. Doesn’t every country have to cope with the consequences of climate change these days? Other countries also are suffering the effects of major negative weather patterns but somehow through resourcefulness and intelligent management are able to feed their citizens. The Cuban authorities simply use climate as a crutch.
The U.S.A. embargo? When it suits the totalitarian decision makers the embargo is used as sword. The reason Cuba has all these economic problems, like not being able to produce enough agricultural products to feed its citizens, is because of the United States government policies.
On the other hand, the embargo when the need arises for the Cuban decision makers is used as shield. Make emigration to Nicaragua as easy as possible for those Cubans who hate living on the island and may cause political problems such as what happened on July 11, 2021. All of them will want to relocate to the US searching for the almighty American dollar which will then be sent back to the totalitarian rulers as remittances.
Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in Havana, and Yanet Hernandez Pérez, governor of Havana, along with other officials please, stop, using the US embargo as an excuse for the Cuban’s government failed agricultural policies specifically in this article the government’s inability to produce sufficient rice, a Cuban food staple.
The facts are the Cuban government because of its own archaic ideological incompetence has been unable to produce enough agricultural products such as rice to feed its citizens. Thanks to the Vietnam government for its humanitarian offer of 1,200 tons of much needed rice. The Cuban people will certainly be thankful to Vietnam for its generosity a thanks that is not offered to the Cuban totalitarian intransigent government.