14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 11 November 2020 — Two years ago, after a long period of requests and expectations, the American tractor manufacturer Cleber was excluded from the projects approved to locate in Cuba’s Mariel Special Development Zone, despite offering much-needed equipment for Cuban agricultural producers. The tractor being promoted by the company — compact, light and nicknamed Oggún — would have solved many of the problems that farmers face in Cuba.
But it seemed to the “wise” Cuban authorities who make the decisions about the national economy, that the Oggún machinery did not meet “the standards of innovation required by this business center.”
Now, the official press is promoting the nationally produced Magric 80.2 prototype, which according to one of its creators, “took advantage of the experience acquired with the rebuilding of Yumz tractors in the 90s and the availability of resources related to the manufacture of tractor housings. Already in inventory were the engines, the transmissions and other aggregates.” The equipment “will be tested soon,” adds an article on the subject published in the State newspaper Granma.
That is, two years after rejecting Cleber and its compact Oggún, now it turns out that the national prototype has not even been tested. When it begins to be produced for the market, will it be sold in convertible currency (let us say dollars)? And meanwhile the farmers of this Island will have lost several years while they were unable to obtain much-needed machinery, and their customers in the market will have lost out on consuming countless pounds of fruits, vegetables and grains.
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