Bread, which in the vast majority of homes in Cuba helps to somewhat alleviate the serious food shortage, has also become an increasingly difficult product to obtain.
A report on state television reveals that in recent weeksThe lack of the so-called liberated bread has worsened, in addition to the fact that the supply of products in the stores of the Cuban Bread Company decreased.
A tour by journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso in the Lawton neighborhood, in the Havana municipality of Diez de Octubre, showed the dissatisfaction of the users, whoThey only have the right to buy four garlic breads - very small - or one sliced bread, something larger.
"Demand is above supply.The people are demanding more bread and we, with the amount of flour we are receiving, are not able to guarantee it.", admitted Nieves de la Caridad Lebequer, deputy director of the Company.
The director explained that due to the lack of raw materials,A purchase limit for bread worth 20 pesos per person was established.
Cuba would need three ships of wheat to satisfy its demand for flour, and for months it has only received one or two a month.
The blame, according to Maidel Linares, first vice president of the food industry business group, is the US embargo that complicates payments to suppliers.
The low flour coverage led the authorities to eliminate the bread supply to numerous entities. Only the family basket, prisons, hospitals, boarding schools, day care centers and the Cuban Bread Chain are prioritized.
Faced with this reality, many users go to non-state bakeries, where theprice has risen to 200 pesos per bag, according to information released last week in official media.
The report by Lázaro Manuel Alonso brought to light another problem: that ofexodus of qualified personnel.
According to Yanet Lomba Estupiñán, technical director of the Cuban Milling Company, there have been years in whichbetween 500 and 600 workers have requested leave, out of a total of 1,700.
"This then threatens the production process because a miller is not made overnight, the miller requires a level of preparation, courses that cannot be given in a month, because operational experience is not obtained at that time, is obtained later in doing," he explained.
Among the causes of this phenomenon, Lomba recognized that salaries are very low.
"Salaries are around 3,000 pesos, as a monthly average, without profits", accurate.
Last week, the portalCubadebate He toured several non-state bakeries in Havana, where he found that the price of a bag of bread and packets of cookies is between 150 and 200 pesos.
In addition, the aforementioned media spoke with several residents who assured that standardized bread does not reach everyone, in addition to complaining about the low quality.
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