Cuban ministers reveal details of food, fuel shortages amid economic crisis
Cuban ministers reveal details of food, fuel shortages amid economic crisis
Senior Cuban officials have provided an increasingly dire snapshot of a deepening economic crisis in a series of televised prime-time appearances, revealing the extent of the downturn in unprecedented detail.
Still unbelievable the US maintains the sanctions on Cuba
Hold free, multiparty elections and we'll lift our sanctions, just like we did in Venezuela.
You don't actually believe this, do you? The US is verrryy happy to deal with and even support antidemocratic regimes, as long as it suits our geopolitical interests. The "freedom and democracy" bullshit is so threadbare at this point, that it strains the imagination to think that there is anyone left who actually believes it.
In the specific case of Cuba, the US has tried everything it could to undo the revolution in Cuba. Do you think "free, multiparty elections" would be held without overwhelming US interference?
Just as a reminder: before the revolution, Cuba was run by a dictator who was hated by the Cuban people, but loved by the US political/corporate interests. Also, the nations of the UN regularly vote overwhelmingly to end the US sanctions, which the US vetoes.
Still unbelievable the far left in USA seeing countries like Cuba and North Korea, but believing that socialism/communism can really work for good of the people.
Socialism is when fascist dictatorship, apparently.
Dude shoots cuba in the face with embargo. "Why did socialism fail cuba?"
The US embargo of Cuba has been widely condemned by every country except Israel and Ukraine. The UN General Assembly has tried time and time again to get the US to end the embargo, but to no avail.
It's very saddening. The level of poverty experienced by Cuba in the past few years is absolutely devastating.
Cuba imports most of the food and fuel it consumes
fuel, that makes sense - after all, Mexico is right next door, but food? cant they grow food? seems like Cuba would be perfectly situated for farming.
Most of their farm land is devoted to cash crops, tobacco, coffee, sugar, the trifecta of colonial slavery. They still run steam trains on sugar cane farms on the west side of the island, there's ancient soviet tractors working the fields too.
To add on to what you said, a lot of their farm equipment is either Soviet, made like you said, which makes it basically extremely difficult to find replacement parts, or US-made, which also makes it nearly impossible to trade in replacement parts. They often have to leave machines just sitting there or switch to old-school animals.
Oil to run their machines is also extremely difficult to get a hold of because of things like the embargo, since they try to stop other country's ships from trading with them. They were able to make a deal with Venezuela, and Russia to a lesser extent, that helped, but not enough to meet demand, and it's been even more difficult since they've dealt with sanctions and crises of their own. Mexico is now helping, too, in defiance of the US so hopefully that helps, but it's difficult and complicated to trade around the regulations with both the US and Cuba. They also don't have much equipment or foreign expertise to refine received crude oil.
The sanctions also make the country generally poorer, making it difficult to pay for traded food.
Other colonized states that focused on cash crops for hundreds of years generally deal with the same issues: Puerto Rico imports 85% of its food, for example. Jamaica gets 43% of its food imports from the US (imagine if they emmargoed Jamaica with those statistics). Haiti imports 80-90% of its rice and wheat (a staple foods for them). Fiji produces about half the food their population needs. Some of these countries are trying to change it and have ongoing or new agricultural programs, but if you already have the infrastructure and trading partners for your cash crops (like sugar or whatever) from your colonized days, I guess it must be hard to switch over.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Nov 22 (Reuters) - Senior Cuban officials have over several weeks provided an increasingly dire snapshot of a deepening economic crisis in a series of televised prime-time appearances, revealing the extent of the downturn in unprecedented detail.
Food production, the supply of phamaceuticals and transportation are down by at least 50% since 2018, the top officials said, and continued to decline this year in large part due to chronic fuel shortages and power outages.
Cuba imports most of the food and fuel it consumes, but revenues have plunged following the pandemic, hampered by stiff U.S. sanctions and floundering tourism, once a mainstay of the Caribbean island economy.
Production of pork, rice and beans - all staples on the Cuban dinner plate - are down by more than 80% this year over pre-crisis levels and eggs 50%, Agriculture Minister Ydael Jesus Perez said.
Hospitals, short on basic supplies such as sutures, cotton and gauze, have done 30% fewer surgical procedures compared with 2019, according to data shared on state-run TV during a presentation by First Deputy Health Minister Tania Margarita Cruz.
Local authorities, increasingly under pressure as the problems and tension ratchet up, have launched programs to contain hunger, build homes and improve the flow of transportation, but remain hamstrung by a lack of funds, they have said.
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