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The sale of sausages at a store in Santiago de Cuba this Friday ended in a violent episode of repression when police officers sprayed pepper gas on mothers with children amid a crowd desperate to obtain food.
It happened in a Micro 3 store, located in the El Salao neighborhood, designated as the sole point of sale in the area for a batch of sausages, where hundreds of people gathered, at a time when various viruses, including dengue and chikungunya, are spreading throughout the eastern city and the entire country.
According to a report on Facebook by independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada, the crowd was so intense that police attempted to disperse the public using pepper spray, without considering the consequences.
According to several testimonies, women with minors, some still in their arms, were screaming and coughing, while other neighbors tried to make their way to escape the chaos.
"There were small children, pregnant women, people crying," recounted a neighbor. "Instead of organizing, what they did was spray and fight with people."
Others claim that several mothers nearly fainted from the suffocation.
Residents are directly blaming local authorities for what happened. “How can they sell such a in-demand product at only one point for an entire neighborhood?” questioned one resident. “That shows the lack of planning we have.”
Maritza, the president of the area's council, was also the target of significant criticism. Testimonies accuse her of "playing along with all of this," of being absent during the incident, and of failing to provide solutions to manage the situation.
On social media, comments reflect outrage and frustration. One user criticized the sudden change in the distribution system: “They started selling six packages per person and then said it was per household, and that children under 18 had no rights. Don't children eat?”
Other internet users agreed that the government should organize sales by family units or ration cards to avoid chaos and reselling. "They should deliver products to each household, as was done with the donations," wrote another resident.
The atmosphere became even tenser due to corruption allegations. “Donations are being diverted, social workers are profiting from what should go to the community,” wrote a resident of the area.
Others claim that outside the store, packages of sausages were being resold for up to 250 pesos.
For the past three days, the queue for sausages has been the scene of pushing, fights, and fainting. “They’ve gotten into fights several times, and the police aren’t controlling anything; they only react when everything is already out of control,” said Luis Ricardo Llanes, a witness to the events.
The episode once again highlights the collapse of local management and the deterioration of coexistence amid the widespread scarcity affecting Santiago de Cuba.
After the passage of Hurricane Melissa, the population is facing severe food shortages, long lines, and a lack of transparency in the distribution of resources.
In this regard, residents of Santiago recently reported that the ground beef distributed to children as part of the family basket was in poor condition and showing signs of decomposition.
During a presidential tour of the town of El Cobre, a young man directly confronted the leader Miguel Díaz-Canel to denounce that following the storm, the authorities have not provided assistance to the victims in the community and have left residents to organize on their own to meet their basic needs.
It also highlighted the absence of effective leadership to coordinate aid and the lack of institutional presence in the area.
According to the official page Héroes del Moncada on Facebook, two men residing in the José Martí District in the city of Santiago de Cuba, were arrested after being caught taking advantage of the damage caused by the weather phenomenon to commit acts of looting.
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