From a truck on the street: This is how the government sells beef bones in Havana.

"A lot of people lining up to buy the bones, apart from being bare, they looked cold and smelled bad," the complainant stated.


A Cuban reported on Twitter the unsanitary conditions in which the government sells beef bones to the population: in a truck parked on a random street, without the minimum hygiene and food safety standards.

The user identified as Deshollinador shared photos and videos showing how the bones are on the bed of the vehicle, outdoors and under the sun. The workers, without gloves or any other means, handle and chop the merchandise while people wait their turn to buy.

"Incredible, and a lot of people lining up to buy the bones. This crappy camera on my phone doesn't capture in detail, but besides being stripped, they looked cold and smelled bad," he stated.

"Now the clarias are saying that the video is made with AI," he pointed out.

Several internet users lamented that the people are only sold bones and not meat, and that this is done in such unsanitary conditions.

"How they humble themselves, gentleman," said one.

"What a lack of hygiene and filth," criticized another.

Scenes like these are becoming increasingly common in Cuba. The scarcity of food and the moral and social deterioration have reached such a point that people see the selling of bones instead of meat, and in unhygienic conditions, as something natural.

At the beginning of the month, a report by the independent portal CubaNet showed the unsanitary conditions in which the sale of beef bones, legs, and bellies was taking place at an agricultural fair in Old Havana, in the Parque del Cristo.

The truck that sells the products belongs to the slaughterhouse in the province of Artemisa. They travel with the meat unrefrigerated and sell it under the Cuban sun, without following hygiene measures, with flies and bare hands, in the middle of the street.

In April, a post in the Facebook group "SELL EVERYTHING HERE BAHÍA (putting a price on it)" promoted the sale of bones as if they were "meat" in the Bahía neighborhood of Havana.

The announcement sparked a multitude of criticisms. In the photos, the bones were practically bare inside plastic boxes that the seller placed on pallets, because he preferred to leave them on the grass instead of lifting them and putting them on a table or platform.

"What a shame, that's so meaty with that amount of bones, and where did they send the meat? As if we were carrion birds, don’t they feel ashamed to sell that graveyard of bones...", said an elderly woman.

"They should give it to the animals in the zoo, or are we animals?" questioned a mother.

"It seems we are in a German concentration camp," protested a man.

Other internet users questioned the lack of hygiene, with the merchandise almost on the ground, completely uncovered and just a few meters away from a parked motorcycle, and the seller without gloves or any protective measures.

In August 2023, the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH) released a video of the sale of beef bones for 70 pesos per pound in Camagüey, where the product was thrown on the ground, in the middle of the street.

The recording showed the bones scattered on the street, and right there the vendor cut them and handed them to the buyers.

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