sixdollarchampagne
30th July 2008, 17:27
Dear friends:
I am trying to understand the two recent news items below. The first story, from the BBC, indicates that the Cuban revolution guaranteed everyone enough food to live on, at a minimal price, 25 cents US for 18 pounds of rice, 15 pounds of sugar, etc., and this arrangement is a “lifeline” for much of the Cuban population, since food from private markets on the island is just too expensive.
The second item, from Reuters, courtesy of marxmail, strongly suggests that the Cuban state will soon move to eliminate the guarantee that everyone will get cheap, sufficient food. Raul Castro reportedly called the “heavily-subsidized” food ration for every Cuban “unsustainable.”
It seems to me that the Cuban authorities must be hoping that private markets will supply food, in the absence of state guarantees of sufficient cheap food, but the prices at the private markets put their food out of reach of many Cubans.
So, my question is, what are those Cubans, who make $20 US a month, supposed to do, in the absence of guaranteed affordable food from the Cuban state?
Can someone explain this to me?
With socialist greetings,
sixdollarchampagne/Yosef M
* * *
From:
“Cuba struggles for economic reform”
By Claire Bolderson, BBC News, Havana [ July 26, 2008]
Subsidised food
Juan took me to his state-run corner shop where there was very little on the shelves and no fresh food to be seen at all.
In the store room at the back were sacks of rice and other staple foods and on the counter at the front, a big blackboard listing the prices of all the basics that Cubans get each month with their ration book.
The food is not free but it is incredibly heavily subsidised.
Juan for example, got 18lbs (8kg) of rice, 15lbs of sugar and 1lb of salt and some spaghetti for just over five Cuban pesos - about 25 US cents (12p).
In a country where the average monthly wage is less than $20, the ration book is a lifeline for many Cubans.
But they have to be patient, and they have to be alert.
When fresh meat arrives, shoppers come flocking. How do they know it is there?
"They just know," says shopkeeper Gerardo with a laugh. "Word goes around instantly."
Garlic rations
So why not just go to the farmers' market? Because for most Cubans the prices in non-state shops are just too high.
One head of garlic cost 25 cents, the same as Juan's basic rations for a month.
* * *
Cuban farmers refuse food rations to help economy
By Rosa Tania Valdes
HAVANA, July 28. - A group of farmers in western Cuba say they will no
longer accept their government-provided rations of rice and beans and want
others to help the economy by following their lead, a state-run newspaper
said on Monday.
Cuban President Raul Castro has told Cubans the country must cut costly food
imports and that the heavily-subsidized food ration for each Cuban is
"irrational and unsustainable."
The newspaper Trabajadores (Workers) said an agricultural cooperative in the
state of Pinar del Rio had "renounced" part of the ration that includes
beans, rice, cooking oil, sugar, coffee and a small amount of meat.
Two other groups in the state said they would stop accepting beans and rice
next year, Trabajadores reported.
It said the Pinar del Rio farmers would "invite the rest of the other
producers in other states to take the same step."
The food ration has been a staple of Cuban life since the early years of the
1959 Cuban revolution, part of a campaign both to create a communist society
and to stave off food shortages.
Since formally replacing brother Fidel Castro in February, Raul Castro has
taken steps away from the egalitarian ideal as he tries to improve the
state-run economy by increasing productivity.
One of his goals is to cut food imports, which are expected to cost $2.5
billion this year, an increase of around $1 billion from 2007.
Cuba, partly due to inefficiencies in agriculture, imports 85 percent of its
food.
Since taking office, Castro, 77, has decentralized management of Cuban
agriculture and offered more land to private farmers and cooperatives, who
have been more productive than most state farms.
Despite his criticism of the monthly food ration, which came in a Feb. 24
speech when he was elected president by the National Assembly, Castro has
not said if or when it would be eliminated.
He has undertaken other reforms aimed at improving the lives of Cubans, who
receive several heavily-subsidized social benefits but earn an average of
less than $20 a month.
He opened sales of cell phones and computers to the public, eliminated
restrictions on Cubans using tourist facilities and has improved public
transportation by purchasing Chinese buses. (Editing by Jeff Franks and
Kieran Murray)
I am trying to understand the two recent news items below. The first story, from the BBC, indicates that the Cuban revolution guaranteed everyone enough food to live on, at a minimal price, 25 cents US for 18 pounds of rice, 15 pounds of sugar, etc., and this arrangement is a “lifeline” for much of the Cuban population, since food from private markets on the island is just too expensive.
The second item, from Reuters, courtesy of marxmail, strongly suggests that the Cuban state will soon move to eliminate the guarantee that everyone will get cheap, sufficient food. Raul Castro reportedly called the “heavily-subsidized” food ration for every Cuban “unsustainable.”
It seems to me that the Cuban authorities must be hoping that private markets will supply food, in the absence of state guarantees of sufficient cheap food, but the prices at the private markets put their food out of reach of many Cubans.
So, my question is, what are those Cubans, who make $20 US a month, supposed to do, in the absence of guaranteed affordable food from the Cuban state?
Can someone explain this to me?
With socialist greetings,
sixdollarchampagne/Yosef M
* * *
From:
“Cuba struggles for economic reform”
By Claire Bolderson, BBC News, Havana [ July 26, 2008]
Subsidised food
Juan took me to his state-run corner shop where there was very little on the shelves and no fresh food to be seen at all.
In the store room at the back were sacks of rice and other staple foods and on the counter at the front, a big blackboard listing the prices of all the basics that Cubans get each month with their ration book.
The food is not free but it is incredibly heavily subsidised.
Juan for example, got 18lbs (8kg) of rice, 15lbs of sugar and 1lb of salt and some spaghetti for just over five Cuban pesos - about 25 US cents (12p).
In a country where the average monthly wage is less than $20, the ration book is a lifeline for many Cubans.
But they have to be patient, and they have to be alert.
When fresh meat arrives, shoppers come flocking. How do they know it is there?
"They just know," says shopkeeper Gerardo with a laugh. "Word goes around instantly."
Garlic rations
So why not just go to the farmers' market? Because for most Cubans the prices in non-state shops are just too high.
One head of garlic cost 25 cents, the same as Juan's basic rations for a month.
* * *
Cuban farmers refuse food rations to help economy
By Rosa Tania Valdes
HAVANA, July 28. - A group of farmers in western Cuba say they will no
longer accept their government-provided rations of rice and beans and want
others to help the economy by following their lead, a state-run newspaper
said on Monday.
Cuban President Raul Castro has told Cubans the country must cut costly food
imports and that the heavily-subsidized food ration for each Cuban is
"irrational and unsustainable."
The newspaper Trabajadores (Workers) said an agricultural cooperative in the
state of Pinar del Rio had "renounced" part of the ration that includes
beans, rice, cooking oil, sugar, coffee and a small amount of meat.
Two other groups in the state said they would stop accepting beans and rice
next year, Trabajadores reported.
It said the Pinar del Rio farmers would "invite the rest of the other
producers in other states to take the same step."
The food ration has been a staple of Cuban life since the early years of the
1959 Cuban revolution, part of a campaign both to create a communist society
and to stave off food shortages.
Since formally replacing brother Fidel Castro in February, Raul Castro has
taken steps away from the egalitarian ideal as he tries to improve the
state-run economy by increasing productivity.
One of his goals is to cut food imports, which are expected to cost $2.5
billion this year, an increase of around $1 billion from 2007.
Cuba, partly due to inefficiencies in agriculture, imports 85 percent of its
food.
Since taking office, Castro, 77, has decentralized management of Cuban
agriculture and offered more land to private farmers and cooperatives, who
have been more productive than most state farms.
Despite his criticism of the monthly food ration, which came in a Feb. 24
speech when he was elected president by the National Assembly, Castro has
not said if or when it would be eliminated.
He has undertaken other reforms aimed at improving the lives of Cubans, who
receive several heavily-subsidized social benefits but earn an average of
less than $20 a month.
He opened sales of cell phones and computers to the public, eliminated
restrictions on Cubans using tourist facilities and has improved public
transportation by purchasing Chinese buses. (Editing by Jeff Franks and
Kieran Murray)