A Cuban woman posted a video on Facebook in which she shows a small loaf of bread from a local bakery and highlights how its price increased from 40 to 50 Cuban pesos (CUP) overnight, in a relentless spiral that threatens the breakfast of thousands of children just days before the start of the school year.
Lili Romero, a resident of Manatí, Las Tunas, holds up the bread in front of the camera and explains with frustration that the price increase is due to the rising costs of flour and oil, expenses that the owners of the private business directly pass on to the final price.
“That little bread that is supposed to be our daily bread costs 40 pesos if bought directly from the bakery, a private one, of course. That was yesterday; today, that same little bread is already costing 50 pesos because the prices of flour and oil have gone up, so they raise the price,” he explains.
"How far are we going to go? Can you imagine how many mothers will suffer just to be able to give their children breakfast when the school year starts? We have no life," she concludes with resignation.
The rising prices of bread have sparked a public debate on social media about whether private businesses should have restrictions or not.
In the informal market, small bread ranges from 25 to 90 CUP in Havana, reaching 150 CUP for a 200-gram piece in Cienfuegos and up to 700 CUP per bag in Santiago de Cuba. In Villa Clara, a medium loaf of bread ranges from 140 to 200 CUP.
All those figures are unattainable for most people, considering that the minimum salary in effect since July is 3,210 CUP per month, which is equivalent to less than five dollars on the informal exchange rate.
The distress of Romero points directly to the start of the school year, an event that the Minister of Education, Naima Ariatne Trujillo Barreto, described as "a great celebration in Cuba." The joy of the official contrasts with the calculation of a Cuban who estimates that a family would need more than 10,000 CUP per month just to cover the breakfast and snacks for a school-aged child.
In recent months, several mothers have posted videos documenting the inability to access such a basic food item as bread, which has become a luxury item for many families.
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