Cuba Closes State Stores That Sell Unrationed Bread

In a tour of several stores in the municipalities of Centro Habana and Plaza de la Revolución, this newspaper found that all state outlets for unrationed bread are closed. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 8 January 2021 – With a bag of bread now costing 35 or 40 pesos, the so-called “Ordering Task” has left many children without a snack this week.

“There is no unrationed bread in any state bakery, in the private ones they offering some but not every day and also it is very expensive. The package of 8 buns that cost 25 pesos now costs 35 or 40,” says Leonardo Álvarez, the father of a boy who attends the fifth grade in a school in Centro Habana.

“We are making a tremendous effort so that my son can take a snack to school every day,” the man complains. “Meanwhile, at the hardware store on the corner they are selling electric motorcycles for $1,500. What do those who run this country think that we are going to eat, motorcycles? ”

“I can’t find anything that I can afford. Yesterday my son had to take some sugar water for a snack and just the bread from the ration store. A yogurt costs 30 pesos, a drink is 35, the bakery crackers and breadsticks are 30, the small package of sweet cookies is 115 and soda is 90. I can’t do that,” he laments.

In private businesses, the bag of 8 buns is priced at 35 or 40 pesos, a situation that has left many children without a snack this week. (14ymedio)

In a tour of several stores in the Havana municipalities of Centro Habana and Plaza de la Revolución, this newspaper found that all state outlets for unrationed bread are closed.

“I have only seen the State selling unrationed bread in seedy cafeterias, bread with cheese at 8 pesos, with mayonnaise at 7, with a spread at 5,” Álvarez concedes. “The thing is that I don’t trust what they put in the spreads and I don’t want to put my son’s health at risk, I prefer that he just have the bread.”

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