Cargando...It is not surprising that the recently opened supermarket at 3rd and 70th in Havana resembles a store in other places. Nor is it the quantity of products that fills the shelves. Even the payment only in dollars and with certain international cards responds to the urgent need for fresh foreign currency. At least this was explained in the last session of the National Assembly of People’s Power.
It is also true that our salaries are not in this U.S. currency, and therefore not all of us will be able to make a splash there. For some, it even sounds like déjà vu, because when the dollar was decriminalized in Cuba in 1993, the first stores that opened allowed purchases in that currency, and then nobody dreamed of cards or social networks or cell phones, or so much fuss..
The opening of the supermarket is not the most shocking thing, but rather the fact that once again communication is failing because of the uncertainty of those who have a freely convertible currency card (MLC, in Spanish) and now cannot use it there.
Is it that the value of these cards will disappear or worse, that the stores that were in MLC will be relegated in terms of supply by supermarkets such as 3ra. and 70? Can anyone explain why it is possible to make purchases with Classic cards, which are purchased in the center itself by depositing dollars, but not with MLC cards, when in the end there are freely convertible currencies in the accounts of both? Is it so difficult to explain, or will a slap on the table of some decision-maker solve everything?
What is new is always unsettling and creates anxiety. It is very hard that we cannot all go to this market (which I have only seen through photos and videos), even the most dedicated workers, but without family remittances. Welcome to those who can. Social inequalities are no longer exceptions, unfortunately, in many aspects and services of Cuban society.
Let’s look at the glass half full in terms of the food solution for those who can physically hold the U.S. currency, but let’s not keep stumbling and let’s respond to legitimate concerns promptly and with good communication. Very soon 3rd and 70 will be just another supermarket. We will see.
Acerca del autor
Máster en Ciencias de la Comunicación. Director del Periódico Trabajadores desde el 1 de julio del 2024. Editor-jefe de la Redacción Deportiva desde 2007. Ha participado en coberturas periodísticas de Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe, Juegos Panamericanos, Juegos Olímpicos, Copa Intercontinental de Béisbol, Clásico Mundial de Béisbol, Campeonatos Mundiales de Judo, entre otras. Profesor del Instituto Internacional de Periodismo José Martí, en La Habana, Cuba.
