The Cuban Minister of Food Industry (MINAL), Alberto López Díaz, acknowledged that the government is unable to provide the expected quantities of milk to meet the standard household food basket, due to the failure to meet production targets in the country.
Without specifying which factors contribute to the non-compliance, the minister referred to the energy crisis as one of the primary issues affecting dairy farmers' collection of milk, explaining that power outages disrupt the production chain and sometimes lead to the spoilage of the product.
“Milk often spoils because there is no electricity in the thermos, because it didn't arrive on time when it was dispatched, or because the physical fuel was delayed. And when the raw material arrives at the industry, there are also power outages in the industry, which in turn affects the production cycle and the quality of the product,” explained López Díaz.
Amid vague justifications and arguments typical of regime propaganda, the head of MINAL acknowledged that so far in 2024, the country has collected 44 million liters of milk, out of the 326 million that were planned (less than 15%).
Once again, the minister blamed the workers of the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI), headed by Ydael Pérez Brito. “We have not been able to collect [the milk] due to several factors inherent to agriculture, which I insist involve some subjective aspects on our part, but which are also related to that,” López Díaz stammered during his appearance on the official television program Mesa Redonda on Thursday.
"We are making an extraordinary effort – I say this not as a justification – to try to guarantee... led by the highest leadership of the country... and it is a pain for us when we do not meet our goals... it tears us apart... And every day, the more than 100,000 affiliated workers at MINAL... but the basic food basket is the priority of this ministry," he added.
The blame for the MINAL's lack of productivity does not lie with its main manager, but rather with MINAGRI and the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM) led by Vicente de la O Levy, as well as "other factors," such as the "blockade."
"We have the conditions, the installed capacity, and the strength of having a capacity built by the Revolution across all provinces. We have food production industries and an installed capacity to produce over a million tons in the country, [but] we don't have the raw materials," said López Díaz at one point during his speech.
"If the raw material appeared, we would start the transformation," he assured while passing the "hot potato" to his counterpart Pérez Brito.
The Cuban regime uses the U.S. embargo as a shield to justify the collapse of its economic management, which is based on the "centrality of the socialist state enterprise," centralized planning, and the appropriation of the dollarized sectors of the economy by a corrupt elite of Communist Party bureaucrats and high-ranking military officials.
The failure of the so-called "economic reordering" by ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel has served as an additional catalyst for the economic collapse experienced by the population during the current energy crisis.
The discomfort caused by power outages in Cuban households is compounded by the effects of the collapse of the electrical infrastructure on industry and the national economy.
In a country where a kilogram of powdered milk can cost up to 2,000 pesos (with the minimum wage for Cubans being 2,100 CUP), children over the age of two do not receive milk rations through the provisioning booklet - nor do the sick, pregnant women, or the elderly. The news that the limited domestic milk production is spoiled due to power outages intensifies the public's outrage, further widening the gap and disconnect between the governed and their inept leaders.
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