Minister of Internal Trade visits warehouse with eggs and milk in Cuba.

The head of the Ministry of Internal Trade (MINCIN), Betsy Díaz Velázquez, visited a grocery store in the municipality of San Antonio de los Baños in Artemisa province where there was an abundance of eggs and powdered milk.

The fact is headline news at the moment, as the Cuban population is affected by the worst food shortages in its history, the slow phasing out of the state rationing system and the ration book, and an increased risk of food insecurity that continues to go unnoticed by international organizations.

In addition to cartons of eggs and packages of powdered milk, the warehouse visited by the minister in San Antonio de los Baños, whose name was not mentioned, had a variety of regulated products that Cubans usually miss month after month, receive late, or do not receive and are left "pending" until further notice.

Among the regulated products were imported rice (7 pesos per pound), sugar (5), coffee (11), peas (5), compote (0.30), and even a kilo of "free rice," possibly from received donations. There were also hygiene products and other illegible blackboards, filled with notes.

It is worth mentioning from the visit, the unusual fact that there was no one queuing with so many scarce products for sale. The minister also visited a popular dining hall, of which only photos of set tables were published, with empty plates and not a single diner.

San Antonio de los Baños, the epicenter of the historic protests on July 11, 2021 (11J), seems to be up to date in the delivery of the meager basic food basket subsidized and distributed by the State through the ration book.

However, based on previous experiences and understanding the functioning of the propaganda machinery of the Cuban regime, there are reasons to suspect that the warehouse visited by Díaz Velázquez was purposely stocked.

The visit by the minister aimed to "verify the implementation of the actions carried out in the Artemisa province in view of the accountability of the entity before the Cuban National Assembly," according to MINCIN's account on Facebook.

It is not a minor objective, considering the tense confrontation that Díaz Velázquez had last December with the President of the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP), Esteban Lazo Hernández, who expressed his "mandate to address something as sensitive as popular gastronomy for people with lower incomes" with strong words.

Gathered at the Commission on Service Care, which was meeting prior to the Second Regular Session of the X Legislature, Lazo Hernández used a stern tone to criticize the report presented by the head of MINCIN.

“I am referring a little to sensitivity, so that the ideas of capitalism do not swallow us, girl! That's what I'm saying, let's not get swallowed up! That things only work well if they are private!”, Lazo said to the minister, who held his gaze with a concentrated and challenging expression.

With a carton of 30 eggs priced at 3,500 pesos and a liter of milk exceeding 2,000 pesos, Minister Díaz Velázquez will appear before the National Assembly to report on the outcomes of visits like the one to San Antonio de los Baños this Thursday.

There are food supplies in the warehouses, there are soup kitchens, ships are already flowing through the Panama Canal loaded with rice for Cuba, and spring arrives to the frozen rivers of Canada through which the peas consumed by Cubans are transported. The issue is that "the embargo" remains in place.