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FROM
CUBA
Soap and detergent in short supply in dollar
markets in eastern Cuba 6v406s
HOLGUN, January 28 (cubanet.sergipeconectado.com)
- A perceived shortage of soap and detergent
in the dollar markets in the mining community
of Moa, in eastern Cuba's Holgun
province, caused a run on what supplies
there were, as consumers bought out the
stocks.
An article published in the local Communist
Party's newspaper "Ahora" labeled
the people who bought out the supplies "speculators
and ill-intentioned opportunists for echoing
the rumors that soap and detergent would
disappear from the markets for lack of raw
materials.
The newspaper assured readers that the
supply of raw materials was "guaranteed"
and that the products would be immediately
available in all markets.
But 10 days after the article came out,
the 15-, 20-, 25-, and 35-cent soap bars
as well as the 35-, 50-, and 55-cent detergent
bags could not be found in any market's
shelves in Moa.
Market clerks and managers confirmed that
stocks of both products had run out.
Detergent is only sold in the stores that
sell only in hard currency, commonly known
as dollar stores. Soap is included in the
government's rationing system, at the rate
of one bar of poor quality soap per person
a month, at a cost of 10 cents (peso).
Any scarcity of soap and detergent is perhaps
even more significant for Moa's residents
than for others; a mining community, in
a region of rich, red soil, with two nickel-refining
plants near town, means heavy air pollution
and dirt all over.
For a long time, miners were allowed to
buy an additional quantity of soap under
the ration book, but the government took
away that privilege when the economic crisis
hit in the early 90s.
Versin
original en espaol
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