The odyssey of a Cuban mother to buy milk for her one-year-old child

The work and anguish that Cuban mothers go through to be able to give milk to their children were denounced by a journalist from the newspaperRebel Youth.

The chronicle by journalist Osviel Castro Medel details what happened to a mother of a one-year-old child, who despite her efforts could not buy a bag of powdered milk at a MSME in Bayamo.

The woman left at dawn towards the Cadeca to be one of the first in line to withdraw money, but her sacrifice was in vain, because there was no connection at the premises. Desperate from waiting, she decided to go to the bank; There, after another longer line, he was able to withdraw 3,000 pesos from his account.

He quickly went to a MSME located on Martí Street, where there were 900 gram bags of powdered milk for 2,250 pesos. But when he tried to pay with the 10 bills that the bank had given him, the seller told him that he did not accept small bills.

In response, she asked him to wait for her, that she would go and exchange her money for larger bills. He achieved his goal, but when he returned, the man had already sold the milk.

When she arrived at work, her colleagues confirmed that MSMEs only accept large bills and that some even sell over a certain amount.

The journalist tells ofRebel Youth that the woman thought about how many Cubans go through those same ordeals daily, "which do not arise from external factors."

What caught her attention the most was the attitude of the seller, "who did not make the slightest effort for her to go home with a few grams of milk for a little boy who does not know the concepts of scarcity, low production, world market, banking , MSMEs or irregularities in distribution," he denounced.

The food shortage in Cuba has reached such a point that thegovernment had to ask the World Food Program for support of the United Nations for the supply of powdered milk for children under seven years of age.

According to the official mediaCubadebate, "in the next few days a ship from Brazil, with 375 tons" of powdered milk will arrive in Havana.

After the multitude of criticisms from Cuban mothers for the delay in the distribution of milk for children, theregime announced that it is looking for alternatives with MSMEs, to buy their milk and incorporate it into the basic basket.

This was revealed by the Minister of Domestic Trade, Betsy Díaz Rodríguez, who admitted that children from six months to two years old have not received milk since last February 5, and that in some provinces the dairy has had to be replaced by syrup.

Milk production in Cuba has declined so much that it is even lower than that of the hardest years of the special period, as shown in a graph shared by economist Pedro Monreal, which compares the levels reached in those years with those from 2017 to 2022. .

At the momenta bag of milk costs more than the minimum wage (set at 2,100 pesos after the Ordinance), and double that of pensions, which range between 1,528 and 1,733 pesos.