Journalist denounces shortage of bread for families and privileges for leaders
HAVANA, Apr 3 Jesús Álvarez López, a Cuban official journalist from the Villa Clara network CMHW, once again made clear his discomfort with the critical situationthat he lives in the country and published a message on his social networks in which he questioned the contradiction of the privileges enjoyed by the leaders when the population is going through the worst bread shortage in the history of Cuba.
“Of course, if there is no bread for the family, you should not appear for any meeting or visit because it would be violating the Code of Ethics,” Álvarez López said this Tuesday in a Facebook post that once again received comments from colleagues and users related to the so-called “revolution”, but disenchanted with its “continuity”.
With 40 years of service in official media, Álvarez López is beginning to show signs of disagreement with his situation and, by extension, with that of the country.
The shortage of flour has led Cuban rulers to stop providing the rationed bread they sell to the population while promoting the “culture” of “eliminating subsidies and freebies,” and favoring the proliferation of opaque MSMEs and private businesses that continue to import.
Flour to make bread that they sell at prices unaffordable for the majority, a policy that only exacerbates the growing inequality on the Island.
This Monday, the Villa Clara authorities reported the impossibility of producing standardized bread for the population’s basic basket, due to the shortage of flour in state companies.
After the supposed improvement that would result from the entry of several shipments of flour into the country, the Food Production Company in Villa Clara reported, through the local official media of that province, about the impossibility of producing the demanded standardized bread, due to the lack of the main raw material in that territory.
Odel Dueñas, director of the aforementioned entity, acknowledged that “since this weekend it has been impossible to make bread for the basic basket,” according to a brief note published on the official radio station CMHW, the station where Álvarez López works.
“We still do not know when we will be able to restart this distribution that we used to do every other day in warehouses and other points of sale in the province,” admitted Dueñas, revealing that the already precarious situation is becoming even more serious and outlines a scenario of food insecurity in Cuba.
The radio reporter, who this Monday denounced that his salary was not enough to buy gasoline, returned to his social networks to alleviate his discomfort with a message in which he criticized the ethics of the leaders who proclaim the need to resist creatively in a scenario of “war economy”, while they are entertained during their “visits” and “tours” with food that has disappeared from the Cuban table.
“Total coincidence, but we both know that’s not the case. The visitors have lunch and snacks that are very different from the workers, in full view of everyone,” commented a user in Álvarez López’s publication.
“For visits, there are even etcetera my brother, as a colleague would say. Don’t hesitate,” said another. “For visits there is always everything, that has always been the difference between the visit and the one who works, never doubt it,” said a third.
A “fidelista” also expressed her disappointment: “So many things wrong and this one more. How sad, because the commander told us to share what we have, but that is not true! How sad, journalist!”
“Very good. Nor should they ride in cars when things are tight with fuel and people have to go on foot or pay a high price to the boat drivers. Because there is no public transportation to fulfill the duty for which, by the way, they do not pay enough to have that ‘luxury’. Otherwise, the code of ethics is still violated,” considered one more user in the comments.
Since the end of February, the Cuban regime announced severe effects on the distribution of bread, the population has been suffering interruptions in the sale of rationed bread (a loaf of 60 grams, or less, per person per day), whose quality is lousy, too.
According to authorities from the Ministry of the Food Industry (MINAL), the effects would be felt on the island until the end of March. However, like in many other provinces (Guantánamo and Camagüey among them), the people of Villa Clara begin April without rationed bread, an alarming situation that illustrates the risk of food insecurity that Cubans run.
In mid-March, the arrival of a ship to the port of Santiago de Cuba with 8,300 tons of wheat flour was going to stabilize bread production in the provinces from Ciego de Ávila to Guantánamo, according to the Cuban News Agency (ACN).
Previously, another ship with wheat had landed at the port of Cienfuegos, and another, and another, according to the victorious account of the official media. But reality has reached a critical point in which not even the spokespersons of the regime can hide their discomfort, no matter how many protests they make of their status as “revolutionaries.”
And, with data in hand, they begin to denounce the farce of a “Code of Ethics” presented to the population as a tool that legitimizes the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel with the assumption of “exemplarity” and other figures of propaganda rhetoric. of an immoral, shady regime full of paunchy leaders.
