A shipment of 40 tons of food from Mexico arrived at the warehouses of the Provincial Wholesale Food Company in Pinar del Río, but its distribution will be limited to specific groups, meaning that only a portion of the population will benefit.
According to the , the distribution began this Saturday and will start on Monday. The donation includes 20,000 liters of vegetable oil, 16 tons of beans, 2.4 tons of rice, and confectionery.
In a report broadcast on official television and published on YouTube, Jorge Andrés Naranjo Gómez, director of the Provincial Wholesale Food Company in Pinar del Río, stated: “We are receiving four main products, which include oil, beans, rice, and cookies, specifically María cookies, which are confections intended for vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children without family support. Other products are also being distributed here, as we are providing four kilograms of rice for pregnant women and vulnerable individuals who are included in the process. This means that these donations are part of a complex process that involves more than sixty tons of products.”
The television report specified: "The donation to Pinar del Río comprises nearly 20,000 liters of vegetable oil, 16 tons of beans, and 2.4 tons of rice, and also includes confectioneries. This is in addition to the more than 100 tons of Korean rice from the World Food Program's Aid Fund that arrived in Vuelta Abajo earlier this year."
The aid will be directed to pregnant women, infants from mountainous areas, elderly individuals, homes for children without family support, and other vulnerable groups, so it will not be available to the general population.
However, the announcement has generated divided reactions on social media. Alongside messages of gratitude, questions have also arisen regarding the true extent of the donation and the criteria applied for its distribution.
Among the comments, concerns related to warehouse control and the transparency of the process are reiterated. Questions also arose regarding the territorial criteria.
Some comments express doubts about the requirements to access the products, and distrust was also evident in messages such as: “The people of Pinar del Río won’t see any of this,” “Let’s hope it arrives at its destination without any setbacks,” and “Those donations should be sent to hospitals and pediatric centers because the people won’t see it; we’re already used to the lies.”
Similar situations had already been reported in other provinces. In Güira de Melena, Artemisa, residents reported that vulnerable families received only one package of cookies per household. In Havana, a mother detailed the contents of the package delivered to her underweight child. Likewise, in Artemisa, the distribution sparked outrage due to partial deliveries and doubts about announced products that were missing from the stores.
In a scenario marked by a sustained shortage of food and prices beyond the reach of a large part of the population, the limited distribution of this donation once again calls into question the allocation mechanisms and the real extent of the aid. For many citizens, the debate is no longer solely about what arrives, but rather about who receives it and under what conditions.
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