Package of powdered milk reaches 2 thousand pesos on the black market

The Cuban art criticJorge Gómez de Mello exposed the harsh reality that retirees live, whose pension is barely enough to takea glass of milk a day, taking into account thata kilo package of powdered milk reaches 2,000 pesos on the black market.

In a publication of hissocial networks Titled “Questions caused by a package of powdered milk,” the specialist from the magazine Artcrónica reflected on the inflation that hits Cuban workers and pensioners, who do not have enough money to cover their most basic food needs.

“I am a retiree who will soon turn 70 years old, of which I have worked for more than 45. I receive a pension of 1,986 devalued Cuban pesos, so 14 pesos would be missing to complete 2,000 each month,” said Gómez de Mello.

Starting from there, the intellectual recounted his adventures in buying powdered milk, a product that is scarce in Cuban markets and that the State subsidizes only for children under seven years of age.

“After searching for it for several days in the most incredible places, because it is not normally sold here in stores and markets like in any other country in the world, yesterday I bought a bag of powdered milk for 2,000 pesos,” said the critic.

The package purchased by Gómez de Mello weighed one kilogram. Taking as referencethe price of the dollar on the Cuban black market, a kilo of powdered milk in Cuba costs almost 11 dollars, approximately the same as in Spain, where a one-kilo package of whole milk powder fromAsturian Dairy Central It costs 11.89 euros.

“With 1 kg of powdered milk you can prepare 10 liters of liquid milk, which is enough for my wife and I to drink half a cup of milk daily for a month,” calculated the Cuban pensioner.

The figures give the idea of the rampant inflation that plagues Cubans and that the regime seems incapable of correcting..

Comparing the minimum monthly salary of Spanish workersin the year 2022 with that of the Cubans, and taking as an indicator the price of powdered milk in both countries, the Cuban crisis takes on Dantesque dimensions,with painful implications for the health and nutrition of millions of people.

While in Spain the minimum wage is 1,080 gross euros per month in 14 payments, in Cuba,Since the beginning of 2021, the so-called “organization task” set the minimum wage at 2,100 Cuban pesos (CUP).

With these data in hand and after a simple arithmetic, we reach the conclusion that a Cuban worker earning the minimum wage is barely enough to buy a kilo of powdered milk, while a Spaniard in the same salary range could buy 10 kilos.

“Are you understanding the account?” asked Gómez de Mello. “After making an effort working throughout my life to meet the needs of my family,In the end I am receiving a remuneration that is barely enough to guarantee half a cup of milk every day”.

The Cuban art historian presented the case with the aim of provoking a collective reflection “on the abnormalities of our amazing and battered reality.”

“Not a single one of the politicians in this country, those who proclaim themselves revolutionaries and have given themselves the right to decide on all aspects of our lives, have been able to present a proposal for a realistic and effective solution to encourage "We, the more than 2 million old people who live poorly in Cuba, drink a little milk every day, and we can also cover the basic needs of a simple existence," he said.

For Gómez de Mello it is “a fairly basic situation that persists in the face of the entire society, but unfortunately it seems that many have decided to look at reality sideways. Nor do the press or other official media dare to say a single word about it.”

At the middle of March,France donated 98 tons of powdered milk to the Cuban authorities through the World Food Program (WFP), of the United Nations. The donation, valued at around 500 thousand euros, would go to around 67,500 Cuban children under two years of age residing in the eastern region of the country.

The Cuban regime constantly receives donations of this type, however the milk deficit is becoming more and more acute, impacting its price on the black market, where only desperate elderly, sick, mothers and workers can go to buy milk.

Recently,Cuban mothers expressed concern about the quality of milk that the State sells in the wineries for their children under seven years old, and they wondered about its composition and origin: “Is it possible that it is not from cow?”, they questioned.

At the beginning of March itself, the Cuban regimesuspended the delivery of milk intended for medical diets in the province of Sancti Spíritus, "due to the low levels in the collection of the product, as a consequence of the drought," according to the authorities.

The crisis with milk is not exclusive to Sancti Spíritus, which had been the only province in the country that regularly maintained the distribution of the product for medical diets. Since January of last year, the Cuban government recognized itsproblems guaranteeing milk for diets throughout the country.