Cuba is not into romance, according to what can be intuited in an unusual request from this country.
The World Food Program (WFP) has received an unprecedented official request. The government of Havana has asked for help for this organization to supply powdered milk to care for children under the age of seven.
This request is interpreted as a clear sign of the economic crisis on the island. In addition to the milk shortage, fuel and medicine are also running out. From the weekend, available fuel will cost five times more once the price hike comes into effect.
The WFP, a body integrated into the United Nations (UN), confirmed to the Efe agency that the Cuban executive insisted on the need for a monthly supply of powdered milk for children. The program noted that it has begun to distribute this product in the largest of the Antilles. This product and other basic foods are provided to citizens at a subsidized price through ration cards, but there are delays and lack of supplies, especially in this time of economic hardship.
The lack of milk has only gotten worse in recent months. The Minister of Commerce, Betsy Díaz, acknowledged large delays in supplies for children between six months and two years.
Although the Cuban Executive continues to blame the shortage on the US embargo and sanctions, critics blame the communist administration for mishandling the crisis, which is considered the worst in at least three decades, since the ‘called a special period recorded after the fall of the USSR.
The vice prime minister, Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca, accepted that Cuba was not being achieved to be self-sufficient, although he attributed it to the Cubans and to the lack of “a culture of productivity”.
