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“Milk! 2,000 pesos for a kilo; 1,000 pesos for five days of milk!” shouted two women in the Santiago de Cuba neighborhood. They are both single mothers who sell the milk they provide for their children through ration books to meet other needs. “I need to buy chicken, I don’t have protein to give to my children,” one of them replied to an inquiring passerby. This kind of milk selling is common among poor mothers who do it to meet other needs.
In mid-July, grocery stores in the city began to supply milk for children aged 0 to 3 years. They covered the first ten days of the month with skim milk, which is called “diabetic milk” in Cuba. Through the rationing system, the government sells two types of milk: powdered milk and liquid milk, which is mainly sold in milk-producing provinces and rural areas.
According to the Spanish Society of Pediatrics: “In addition to providing a balanced supply of the three main nutrients – proteins, fats and carbohydrates – milk also provides calcium and some vitamins. (…) Calcium is one of the essential components of bones and teeth. The most active phase of bone formation occurs during early childhood and adolescence, so calcium is very important during these periods.”
Milk has been rationed in Cuba since the communist government came to power. Before losing subsidies from the socialist bloc, milk was reserved for children under 13 in the early 1990s. Today, milk is earmarked for children under 6, pregnant women and the sick.
According to official media reports, in March 2024, the Cuban government “requested assistance from the World Food Programme (WFP) to purchase milk powder to guarantee the supply for Cuban children.”
Since the request for assistance was made to the World Food Programme, the distribution of milk has been delayed. When the milk supply is low, babies are given priority and the rest of the children have to wait for the remaining milk to arrive. The delays are most severe for pregnant women and patients. “It may take two or three months, we are not in a hurry,” said a pregnant woman.
Although the patient is theoretically guaranteed milk, it has not been delivered. This is also confirmed by Yunilka, who is taking care of her 86-year-old father with diabetes. “We just reorganized his diet at the doctor’s office, but the milk has not arrived for more than nine months. If you ask at the grocery store, they don’t have any information, and the Consumer Registry (OFICODA) doesn’t tell you anything. I hope that when the epidemic in the country is resolved, they will give him milk… Well, if he is still alive, because we don’t know when this situation will end.”
Scarce milk production limits its purchase.
“The milk will come naturally in due time,” said Katya, who has a five-month-old baby. “I told my daughter not to wean her baby, but she did it anyway. Now we are always running around to borrow milk, or buy it whenever we can. We can’t get milk because of the delay in the sale of government milk. Now we save up to buy half a kilogram privately from a micro, small and medium-sized enterprise, because milk is not usually put up for sale due to price caps, and a kilogram of milk costs up to $2,500.”
On July 8, the Ministry of Finance and Prices published in the Official Gazette the price ceiling for six products sold by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises: chicken, vegetable oil, pasta, sausage, laundry detergent and milk, with a price ceiling of P1,675 per kilogram.
The shortage of milk in MSMEs has many mothers worried. None of the five MSMEs in Santiago advertised that they had milk. When employees were asked why, they explained that “it’s not worth it to sell milk at the government-set price.”
Another way to buy milk is to go to state-owned stores and buy it with “freely convertible currency” (MLC). There, whole milk is sold at 2.30 pesos per kilogram, semi-skimmed milk is sold at 2.25 pesos, and milk powder is sold at 8 MLC per kilogram. At the exchange rate of 280 pesos x 1 MLC in the informal market, ordinary people cannot afford it.
“No one can afford that kind of milk, it’s a luxury,” said Alina, 59, whose family has four grandchildren, aged 5 to 12, who are now on vacation. Milk at MLC stores “is more expensive than at MSMEs. Powdered milk costs more than P2,000. In this case, there is no ceiling on the price because the store belongs to the government. Only the rich can afford it,” she said.
Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero complained in the National Assembly about criticism that prices at state-owned “money collection” stores are often higher than those at MSMEs. He said the comparison was “unfair because these stores do not buy in the same markets as MSMEs. They have to buy from markets farther away and at more expensive prices,” he argued, acknowledging that state-owned stores, which are protected by the government, are less efficient than those managed privately.
According to the World Food Programme, “pre-pandemic data from the Cuban National Institute of Health, Epidemiology and Microbiology showed high rates of anemia among children aged 6 to 23 months in eastern, central and Havana provinces.
For many mothers and grandmothers like Alina, feeding their grandchildren this summer has been a constant source of stress. “Of my four grandchildren, only the youngest, who is five, drinks milk, but I give everyone milk at breakfast. People have to get creative with breakfast because the milk supply is erratic. I buy diluted syrup to make them sodas and make bread with whatever I can get. Food is expensive. My grandchildren are skinny and they don’t eat well. They have adopted a culture of eating rice with chopped chicken. They don’t eat eggs, beans, meat or fish, and you can’t buy ice cream… Childhood malnutrition is a serious problem in Cuba.”
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