The Cuban government acknowledges the lack of resources for the rationed basket but affirms that it will be maintained.

Despite the insufficient national food production, the shortage of foreign currency for exports, and a fuel crisis affecting transportation, the Cuban regime stated that it will maintain the regulated family basket, although it acknowledged the lack of resources.

"Almost all the products in the family basket have to be imported, and this is the priority when allocating foreign exchange for investment," Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz stated in words collected by the pro-government website Cubadebate.

During the work in the Committee on Service Care, prior to the third ordinary session of the tenth legislature, Marrero referred to the importance of the basket, stating that "despite its shortcomings, it is an achievement that will be maintained."

Likewise, he stated that the distribution "has faced difficulties in its stability over time, because financing is not obtained in a timely manner."

It is worth remembering that at the beginning of July, the residents of Holguin were the ones who received the missing rice that the government owed them from June. A similar situation was experienced throughout the eastern part of the island.

And since 2022, the dependence on imports to ensure products has increased, as the participation of national production of rice, beans, eggs, milk, and other foods has decreased.

Marrero Cruz also referred to the price cap recently imposed on six basic products, a measure aimed at preventing prices from continuing the trend of sustained increases.

He acknowledged that products in MLC stores may be more expensive than in Mipymes because they are not imported from the same countries, and stated that the TRD will take measures on the matter.

On the other hand, the Minister of Internal Trade, Betsy Díaz Velázquez, also spoke about the delays, but without providing a substantial solution: "This situation must be better communicated to the people, and local communication is irreplaceable."

In June, Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel insisted once again on the most important idea of "continuity," namely, that the responsibility for ensuring that citizens have their basic needs met lies with local governments and not with the leaders who control the centralized and planned economy of the communist regime.

Regarding the issue of food and the basic basket in the Antillean nation, the Cuban government does not seem to find a solution. If they now shout at the top of their lungs that they will maintain this "conquest",

The dismissed former Minister of Economy of Cuba, Alejandro Gil Fernández, stated in December that “it is a distortion that we need to correct.”

There is the issue of the regulated family basket. There is a prevailing opinion among our population that we are maintaining subsidies for everyone equally. However, not all individuals have the same level of purchasing power," stated the official on the state television program Mesa Redonda, which was dedicated to the new measures being promoted by the government following the failure of the so-called "Ordering Task."

That is a matter that we need to review because the intention of maintaining a level of product assurance at highly subsidized prices currently, when you look at it closely, is not really equitable or fair distribution," he added.

Gil complained about the "very high cost that the country is incurring to maintain that regulated family basket."

"It costs us 1.6 billion, 700 million more to import the same amount of products as we imported in 2019," said Gil, who - as far as is known - is detained on corruption charges.