In Cuba, the price of gasoline was, until two days ago, the lowest in the world: 25 pesos per liter, about 20 cents at the official exchange rate. It has now increased by 500%, there is one power outage after another and there is even a bread shortage. Fortunately, there is no Marie Antoinette to invite you to eat croissants and the beautiful vintage cars, carefully kept alive, continue to be in circulation to the delight of foreign tourists. The Havana government has admitted that it lacks wheat flour to ensure supplies of the subsidized basket until the end of the month and, for the first time in its history, has asked the World Food Program for “urgent” help to ensure the distribution of one kilo of milk per month for all children under 7 years. The UN speaks of a “deep economic crisis”, which prompted the island’s authorities to call the aid organization months ago.
Cuba is struggling to recover from the recession triggered three years ago by further tightening of US sanctions and the pandemic. At the end of 2023, the government launched a package of economic measures “to correct distortions,” but this triggered an inflationary spiral and public discontent. The economy minister paid the price: President Miguel Díaz-Canel “relieved him of his responsibilities” and appointed the president of the central bank in his place. However, the recipe for austerity cannot change.
Cuba imports 80% of the products it consumes and in recent years has signed new agreements with allied countries such as Russia to guarantee the arrival of the flour. But supplies are scarce and of the five mills on the island, only one is still in operation, in Cienfuegos, which produces just 250 tons of flour per day, while more than twice that amount would be needed to bake state bread alone. As for milk, among the import contracts intended to ensure “social consumption” there is also that for the purchase of 500 tons in the United States, “due to the exemptions established by this Government (from the embargo, editor's note). ) …” . with immediate payment and in cash.”
In addition to gasoline – a full tank now costs around 40 euros, while the average state wage is 32 at the official exchange rate – the prices for water, electricity and transport are also rising. With this, Havana is hoping for a revival of the economy, which ended 2023 with a decline of 2%, but in the meantime the number of Cubans who want to emigrate is increasing and demonstrations of discontent and protests such as those that will end in 2021 cannot be ruled out with hundreds of arrests.
“Our country is experiencing the most difficult period in recent years,” admits historian Ernesto Limia, vice president of the Uneac Writers Association and a committed revolutionary. In an interview with Corriere, he points the finger at the United States, “enemies of the Cuban nation,” and also speaks of a new cultural and ideological challenge: to ensure that “the small and medium-sized private entrepreneurs on the island, who today…” “Has about money and a welfare state different from the popular sectors, continues to believe in the national project, in a society of solidarity.”