The Government of Santiago de Cuba has announced that it does not have enough powdered milk in stock to meet the needs of children aged 2 to 6, a situation that exacerbates the already critical food shortage in the province.
According to information released by the Lácteos Santiago de Cuba company on Facebook, the current distribution is limited to children under one year old, who will receive an additional ten-day supply of milk, totaling twenty days in November.
The statement does not clarify when the rest of the product, essential for children under one year old, will arrive.
For one-year-olds, coverage is guaranteed only until the upcoming November 23, leaving many families with older children in uncertainty.
The shortage of milk for children between the ages of two and six highlights the challenges faced by the system in ensuring basic products for the most vulnerable segments of the population.
The measure has generated criticism and concern among the people of Santiago, who rely on these allocations to feed their children in a context of deep economic and social crisis.
In the comments section, the company clarified that there is no powdered milk available in the country for children aged two to six years, a particularly challenging situation for mothers in this group, although they deemed it necessary to communicate this.
Furthermore, regarding the distribution policy, he explained that it is approved by the Ministries after prior consultation and that it is not within the company's authority to determine the destination of the milk.
According to what was indicated, priority is given to the youngest children, as although children aged 2 to 6 are also included, the product is not sufficient to cover everyone.
In addition to the shortages, in Cuba even the widespread blackouts have left children without the milk they so desperately need.
In October, over 11,200 children in the province of Matanzas were deprived of drinking milk in the last week, due to the blackout that left all of Cuba without electricity for five days, according to official sources.
The collapse of the national electric system hindered the distribution of milk in the western province, as it prevented the food from being refrigerated before industrial processing, authorities revealed on Wednesday.
However, the problem is longstanding and often leads to convoluted solutions.
In February, the authorities in Ciego de Ávila announced that children aged three to seven, as well as those with chronic illnesses who require a special diet, will receive only half a liter of milk and a quantity of fortified instant drink due to a shortage of powdered milk.
In August, a group of Cuban mothers expressed their outrage that children's milk had not been distributed in the bodegas of Havana, despite the month nearing its end.
"Today is August 22, and in my warehouse in Cerro, only 700 grams of milk have arrived this entire month for children over three years old," said a woman in the Facebook group "Cuban Mothers for a Better World."
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