Reuters: Shortages plague Cuba as U.S. sanctions sharpen economic woes
HAVANA (Reuters) - Israel Hidalgo and his wife left home around 7:30 a.m. to reach a supermarket across Havana because they heard it might be selling chicken, a staple of the Cuban diet increasingly scarce on the shortage-plagued island.
After Cuba started limiting sales this month, partly blaming tightened U.S. economic sanctions on the Communist-run island, the couple wanted to buy as much as possible and lined up for three hours under the Caribbean sun to get tickets guaranteeing them their rations.
Inside, they lined up again to collect two bags of chicken thighs each, as fellow shoppers elbowed one another in pursuit of their own rations, and headed for the checkout feeling like they had won the lottery.
“We were born in this revolution and are used to rough times,” said Hidalgo, a 61-year old blacksmith. “We are bracing ourselves for it to get worse.”
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The people will suffer, but for others the good life continues .... Life Is Very Good For Fidel Castro's Family In Cuba (January 5, 2019). In the meantime the Cuban government is blaming the U.S. .... The U.S. Bears No Blame as Cuba Starves on Its Policies (Wall Street Journal).
