Ship loaded with peas arrives at Havana port

A ship loaded with peas arrived this Wednesday and began to be unloaded in the port of Havana.

“A bouquet of tea is unloaded at the port of La Habana, destined for the normal family canasta”,The Ministry of Domestic Trade (MINCIN) reported on its Telegram channel.

In recent months, the Ministry of Domestic Trade and several national media outlets have documented on their social networks the unloading of ships with food, mainly rice, for the basic basket. Something that in another time would have been normal, becomes an extraordinary event given the painful situation that the island is going through.

Likewise, delays in the distribution of the basic basket have affected Cubans in recent months. Faced with the desperation of many who, in the midst of precariousness, rely on subsidized products to survive, the Cuban government justifies itself with varied arguments.

A few days ago, the MINCIN announced that, at least, Five Cuban provinces will not be able to receive rice from the basic basket corresponding to December until the beginning of January.

In the territories of Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey, Las Tunas, Holguín and Granma, the total distribution will not be completed, “which will conclude in the first week of January,” they specified in an information note published on the website of the aforementioned ministry.

Although the authorities assured that the population of those five provinces will be the most affected by the arrival of the demanded product, they also specified that in Pinar del Río, Cienfuegos, Villa Clara and Sancti Spíritus the delivery is expected to end "depending on port operations by the meteorological effects”, which took place these days in the country.

Only “Artemisa, Mayabeque, Havana, Isla de la Juventud, Matanzas, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo will conclude the distribution,” they warned.

In November, for their part, the authorities said that the irregular delivery of tea to the normal family can is due tothe freezing of rivers in Canada, which prevents that country from exporting.

The Minister of Domestic Trade, Betsy Díaz Velázquez, said that the regulated basket was covered with national beans, but due to inefficient production, peas are usually imported from Canada.

When talking about the recent shortage of this legume, he noted: “But we were in a period, from January to May, where Canada's rivers freeze and cannot export. These are dynamics that the population does not know and that forces us to supply with beans or peas,” he explained.

The minister's extravagant statements unleashed endless ridicule and memes on social networks.