Hiding the Lines, a New Strategy to Conceal the Shortages in Cuba

[El Presidente]

 

 

https://babalublog.com/2020/08/20/reports-from-cuba-hiding-lines-a-new-strategy-to-conceal-shortages-in-cuba/

Reports from Cuba: Hiding lines, a new strategy to conceal shortages in Cuba

August 20, 2020 by Alberto de la Cruz

14yMedio reports from Havana via Translating Cuba:

Hiding the Lines, a New Strategy to Conceal the Shortages in Cuba

The new directive now is for stores to ‘disguise’ their lines.

Lines continue to be the common denominator for the vast majority of Cubans. Line up for the bank, line up for the market, line up for the pharmacy, line up for everything. In front of each store there is a line. And now, as this newspaper was able to verify, the new strategy is to hide them.

“Now they are hiding the line, at a minimum three away. You pass by and you can’t see a line anywhere, you see the empty store with two or three people and it turns out that the line is around the corner, 1,000 feet away,” a young man waiting in line tells 14ymedio. “I have seen that in all of them, they say it is so that you do not see a crush at the door of the store. That is how they are in all the ones on Galiano street and also those on Reina. They say that is the directive they have been given.”

He also says that he has been standing there for more than four hours “in the sun” and that he has given up hope of buying chicken or ground meat. “I arrived at half past nine in the morning and I got number 36 for the second round, but everything goes very slow. The first 45 took two hours to enter and it is already noon, I do not think I will get in in time for anything that interests me,” he laments.

Daynier Acosta, a resident at 12th and 25th streets, in El Vedado, told this newspaper that the police pass through his street at night chasing away those who form lines. “The patrols pass with the reflectors pointing into the hallways and the stairs, looking for people who start making lists in the middle of the night to organize the lines.”

According to the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, 3,054 groups made up of 22,281 people have been created to persecute the coleros, hoarders and illegal sellers of currency. He also pointed out that the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Police and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution will be in charge of this task that is already underway but which began to be arranged since the end of July.

 

Line to buy chicken in Luyanó, Havana.

Miguel Díaz-Canel said that the Government is acting “against people who stand in line to profit, promoting illicit economic activity,” a statement focused on insisting that it is not acting against the elderly or humble people, but against “crooks, those who take advantage of others.”

“Here in the corridor of my building they start in the middle of the night, I have seen it for months,” continues Daynier Acosta. “But I must clarify, there is everything: I see people who certainly stand in line for others and then they charge two or three CUC (Cuban convertible pesos) and I also see people who stand in line for themselves and their family and thus guarantee they’ll be able to buy what they need. If you wait to stand in line at the “normal” time, at the moment the store opens, it is very possible that you will not achieve anything and leave empty-handed. Nobody wants to waste their time.”

 

 

[fokker4me]

Really sad that the Cuba we enjoy visiting isnt the real Cuba we don't see.

[1LegLance]

This is why I tell everyone complaining here in the USA that we only have 1st world problems....

I really liked the changes I was seeing over the decades I  have been going to Cuba and when I was last there in March things seemed to be getting so much better for the average person....and then COVID crushed it all.

Looking forward to returning and using my money to help (even though as a tourist there is a negative side to my visit)

[NSXCIGAR]

At least the Cuban people aren't oppressed by the capitalist pigs. Imagine how much longer the lines would be.

[JohnS]

[NSXCIGAR]

I like this one better for obvious reasons:

[mtapia3]

And here I am complaining when I have to wait in line for 5-10 minutes to get inside my fully stocked Costco. And heaven forbid the police come out to maintain order. That would surely spark a full on riot that would result in the looting and burning down of that store. 

Gotta love America! 

[Nino]

A video of people waiting in line in Nuevo Vedado to be told by the store manager that there is a "waiting list" of people that she implements - which is not legal - and together with the police she manages to keep away the people in line so that her "waiting list people" together with the police can buy the products.
People in line go home empty handed...

https://www.radiotelevisionmarti.com/a/colas-peleas-pactos-entre-gerentes-y-policías-y-el-covid-19-/267322.html