Cuba without bread, but the regime showcases its flour production at the Varadero Gourmet festival.

The Cuban regime announced the reduction in the size of the bread in the basic basket starting Friday, September 13, with its weight decreased to 60 grams, amidst the worst food crisis the country has experienced in its history.

However, the Ministry of Food Industry (MINAL) had no qualms about showcasing its flour production for export and sale in foreign currency. And it did so during the celebration of the 14th International Varadero Gourmet Festival, a venue where it displayed the variety and quality of its wheat flours.

While on Friday the 13th, the general director of industrial policy at MINAL, Anayra Cabrera Martínez, explained to Cubans that the low availability of wheat flour forced a reduction in the weight of the allocated bread from 80 to 60 grams, in Varadero, the mixed company Industria Molinera de La Habana S.A. (IMSA), with state participation, proudly showcased its flour production.

"We start this month of September with enthusiasm and determination. We are preparing to showcase our products and services at the Varadero Gourmet International Festival 2024, from September 11 to 13 in its 14th edition," IMSA published on its social media at the beginning of the month.

Originating from the alliance between Corporación Alimentaria S.A. of Cuba and IMEX S.A. de C.V., an entity with Mexican capital, IMSA showcased its flours for making breads, pizzas, and pastries at its Varadero Gourmet stand.

While Cabrera Martínez explained that reducing the size and weight of bread was the only way to guarantee the regulated product to the population, the Cuban regime, through its participation in IMSA, was celebrating that its involvement in Varadero Gourmet was "proving to be very active and successful."

Taking advantage of the event to interact with executives from Grupo Varadero, the Culinary Federation of Cuba, and the Cubanacán Group, the company linked to MINAL directed its efforts "towards intensifying commercial relations between joint ventures as well as developing new productions with specific characteristics of types of flour."

While Cabrera Martínez promised that the reduction of the bread quota was not a definitive modification and assured that the measure did not have to mean a loss in the quality of the product, the company linked to the ministry of which she holds the position of general director of industrial policy offers on its social media a variety of flours for export or sale in foreign currency to the small and medium-sized enterprises (Mipymes) with which the regime intends to transition from its old rationing policy to market capitalism.

Cabrera Martínez clarified that the Cuban Bread Chain will continue the sale of subsidized bread, working alongside non-state management forms. Because there is flour, but for those who can afford the prices of IMSA or the "mipymeros" who import and resell, an economic sector driven among faithful supporters and family members of regime leaders.

The celebration of the Varadero Gourmet food festival generated a wave of criticism on social media directed at the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel, reproaching him for the extravagance of a showcase event for tourism while many households have nothing to put on the table.

The Varadero Gourmet, held at the famous Matanzas beach resort, is dedicated to topics seemingly distant from the everyday Cuban, such as haute cuisine, artistic cooking, and the knowledge of alternative cooking. Among its "attractions," the event featured competitions in cooking, gastronomy, and mixology.

Meanwhile, in Cuba, it has become viral to share photographs on social media showing the size of the bread that the regime of the so-called "continuity" has deemed appropriate to provide in order to mask the path of hunger and malnutrition that ordinary Cubans are beginning to walk, as demonstrated by the VII Report on the State of Social Rights in Cuba 2024 prepared by the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights, which highlighted that “7 out of 10 Cubans have stopped having breakfast, lunch, or dinner, due to lack of money or food shortages.”