I’s lovely blue wrapper bodes well for what’s inside, but it’s not so, nor is it about the title of that famous song. What concerns us today is a scam, that is spreading through all the establishments in the neighborhood, and perhaps others, and comes factory sealed: Turquino Gourmet coffee, a packet of 250 grams, price 3.60 CUC.
Several people have already been victims of this deception. The first two cases were two doctors at the 19th of April Polyclinic in Plaza: both received it as gifts from their patients, two separate packages of Turquino coffee, probably bought at the kiosk that sells in convertible pesos just in front of that health center.
Another three cases are my acquaintances in the neighborhood, who bought it in the establishments Di tú and La Mariposa, also found to be falsified. Inside is a strange mix, odorless, brownish, that looked nothing like ground coffee.
Even a friend brought me a gift package in this cute blue container, and seeing the expression on my face, she immediately explained: The coffee is the greatest, although the package says Turquino, what’s inside is Serrano, from the local seller, who explained when I bought it. She said that at the time she “resolved” it, the only packages they had in the factory were those of Turquino. Brew it with confidence because I tried it and it’s really good.
For half a century we hear the same rhetoric: the New Man, exemplary workers, Revolutionary integrity, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution surveillance, respect the people, uncorrupted inspectors, and so forth.
Gentlemen, as long as there are two currencies and the state pay poverty wages, in a peso devalued twenty-four times, when the basic necessities must be purchased in a currency in which they don’t pay you your salary nor your retirement, as long as the verb “resolve” is synonymous with stealing, you can not stop talking about the crime.
Until the system does not change, we will continue singing the same song: Blue, tinted blue.
February 3 2012
