Artex workers fined in Havana for altering prices

Workers and administrators of two Artex stores in Boyeros were fined this week by state inspectors in Havana for altering the prices of some of their products and selling others without legal support.

The Havana government reported the measure, without elaborating on other details such as the amount of the fines, which stores were involved, or the number of workers involved.

The information showed images of the products that were sold, although it is not possible to distinguish between those that suffered alterations in their prices and those that were illegally introduced into commercial units.

Office supplies such as pencils, markers and markers; handicrafts, souvenirs, clothing and other products were detected by state inspectors after the raid.

In Boyeros there are four Artex stores, two of them at the "José Martí" International Airport and the others in Fontanar and Santiago de las Vegas.

"We continue to apply undeserved sanctions, fines. They deserve expulsion from the workplace and legal proceedings for attempted deception, fraud, theft from the client, stop being so gentle," said a reader of the newspaperHavana Tribune, an official media outlet that echoed the operation.

Artex presents itself as a company that offers comprehensive services in the field of Cuban culture and has a business network made up of seven agencies, two divisions and 14 branches with more than 3,900 workers; as well as its shops, cultural centers, academies and tourism bureaus.

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and with the implementation of the Ordering Task, Cuban residents in Santa Clara were offended becausea store of that state company sold bags of toast for 100 CUP.

The store justified the price and the product because it was an artisanal work and not the basic food of the Cuban diet.

"We market the work of artisans and artists, and this product meets that particularity. It is a flavored bread, with different weights and shapes," the entity's administrator told the local radio station.CMHW.

This raid on Artex is due to the promise of the Havana government authorities to prevent illicit businessesand abusive prices, in the state and private sectors.

As a result of these actions, several locations in Havana have experienced an increase in the presence of inspectors and police, who end up confiscating products sold in the informal market.

In San Miguel del Padrón they deactivated a "warehouse house", whereMore than a thousand bottles of cooking oil were found.