{"id":268154,"date":"2023-04-15T07:56:10","date_gmt":"2023-04-15T11:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=268154"},"modified":"2023-04-15T07:59:31","modified_gmt":"2023-04-15T11:59:31","slug":"waiting-for-the-ship-to-get-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/waiting-for-the-ship-to-get-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Waiting for the ship to get here"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt seems that the chicken isn\u2019t going to come in today either,\u201d says Miguel, resigned, after taking another look at his watch. It\u2019s 5:10 p.m., so it\u2019s less than an hour before the store closes. Even so, a dozen people, including the man, stay, waiting for the miracle.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the shop portal, the note taker and the sales assistants let the time go by languidly, chatting about anything and checking their mobile phones. From time to time, someone comes up to them hoping, only to hear the same thing: \u201cIt\u2019s not known when the truck will arrive. Maybe in a while, or tomorrow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully tomorrow. But it wouldn\u2019t be our turn anymore,\u201d Miguel tells me, looking at his watch again, as if that way he could make the long-awaited truck appear on the corner. \u201cTomorrow another grocery store starts, so we will meet up for <\/span>recovery<\/span><\/i> over the weekend. Let\u2019s see if the mincemeat also arrives, which hasn\u2019t come in for ages,\u201d he laments.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"People
People in a line in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodr\u00edguez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThey say that the Mariel mincemeat factory stopped operations, but that <\/span>it has already started up<\/b><\/a>. And that a boat with chicken is also coming in; so let\u2019s cross our fingers,\u201d adds Hilda, who, like me, had just arrived outside the store to see what\u2019s happening. And, like me, she had verified that nothing had happened: the store was still empty.<\/span><\/p>\n

I ask Hilda about the chicken boat and she tells me that her son told her about it, that she \u201cread it on the Internet.\u201d I wonder where my neighbor\u2019s son read that; if not, it will be one of the many rumors \u2014 better or worse intentioned \u2014 that swarm on social networks, and, if true, where was the damned ship coming from.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m about to tell her that I read comments by economist Pedro Monreal on Twitter, in which he confirmed a drop in chicken imports in February from the United States \u2014 the largest supplier of this meat to Cuba, which must <\/span>pay in cash for it<\/b><\/a> due to the embargo\/blockade regulations \u2014 and an increase in the price of the kilogram, but I don\u2019t want to sound like a killjoy.<\/span><\/p>\n

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2\/6 El valor de las exportaciones mensuales de pollo de EEUU a Cuba en febrero de 2023 se redujo 13,7% respecto a enero, con una p\u00e9rdida relativa de poder de compra que se expres\u00f3 en una ca\u00edda mayor en t\u00e9rminos de toneladas, al aumentar en febrero el valor por kilogramo pic.twitter.com\/fwoR9MQ4XC<\/a><\/p>\n

— Pedro Monreal (@pmmonreal) April 7, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n