The ration book in Cuba: from dependence to hunger

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Like every month, at the beginning of September Internal Trade Minister Betsy Díaz Velázquez told the Cuban population about the products that would be sold through the "Ration Book." What she said, however, confirmed the inexorable trend towards the disappearance of rationed groceries.

Rice, sugar, oil, coffee, salt, beans, which used to arrived punctually during the first days of the month at bodegas in Cuba's neighborhoods, have been distributed with delays in the last year, or simply not distributed at all. The only options left for the population are, in addition to the informal market, agromarkets, MLC stores and MSMEs, where prices are astronomical for those who live on an average salary, or retirees.

"The bodega has nothing," says Emilia, 66, who receives a pension of 1,528 pesos and spends the day hanging around to see if anything arrives. "The saleswomen sit around all day doing nothing. They receive a monthly salary for working three days a month, which is how long the goods last when they arrive," adding that not even those workers know when more groceries will arrive. Emilia's pension is not enough for her to shop outside the state network.

Cubans' dependence on the ration book is such that reductions and delays in the products expose them to hunger. A report by the Food Monitor Program, presented as part of the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council in 2023, states that "one of the main problems faced by the Cuban population is a lack of access to basic goods due to state control over the importation and distribution of food." In addition, it states that "the Ration Book does not guarantee adequate nutrition."

A balanced diet should provide necessary nutrients, such as vitamins, proteins, fats and minerals, but rice is the most "consistent" food delivered by the book.

"I live off my pension of 1,600 pesos," says Ramiro, 71 years old and alone. "On that, I can't shop at MSMEs," where a box of eggs can cost over 3,000 pesos. "I buy food at the agricultural market, where it's cheaper. At the bodega the rice arrives little by little: two pounds today, one at the end of the month, and one the following month. It's already the middle of the month and only one pound of rice per person has arrived," he said.

He adds that nothing has arrived at the butcher's for months, and, as he depends on the ration book, the only thing he has to eat is mapen (a malanga-like food) and avocado. He's often hungry.

The government's explanation of the country's inability to produce food? "The economic crisis and the tightening of the blockade, which have had a significant impact on the decrease in agri-food production due to deficits in financing to acquire supplies, fuels, and fertilizers."

The Government, however, does not explain why so far this year it has invested 15 times more in hotels, devoid of tourists, than in agriculture, livestock and forestry.

Surviving without the ration book

The disappearance of the ration book, which the Government denies, does not seem very far away. Prime Minister Manuel Marrero's statement that "work is being done to shift to subsidizing people and not products" is reflected in the shortages of rationed groceries.

"We haven't lived off it in months," says Alina, a pedagogical assistant. "Six pounds of rice, two pounds of sugar and a loaf of bread per consumer, which is what remains stable, isn't enough for a month," she adds while reviewing the sheets, with almost no notes, in her ration book during the first half of the year. "If you want to eat, you have to buy from individual citizens. That's the only 'creative resistance' we have."

"Creative resistance" is a buzz term that Miguel Díaz-Canel repeats to the population as advice to deal with the country's multi-system crisis. The meaning "is not only to resist and endure, but to resist with your talent, with your effort, with that of the people," the ruler says.

On Friday, September 13, Anaira Cabrera, an official with the Food Industry Ministry, told the press that due to the difficulties with wheat flour and "based on the inventories carried out in the national territory, it was decided that, in order to continue supplying the population (...), the weight of the bread will be reduced from 80 to 60 grams temporarily, and its price will be 75 cents."

"All the reductions undermine the ration book," said Alina. "The Government does apply creative resistance: they've just gutted the bread so that everyone gets some, because it doesn't have any flour, but there's flour for the bread they sell on the free market, that hasn't been reduced," she said.

Protein is among the rationed foods most affected, as diets for the sick, pregnant women and children are no longer distributed. "Not to mention meats. I don't know why they don't just close the butcher shops," said Alina.

"It's incredible that the Government can't import chicken, hot dogs and mincemeat, but MSMEs can. But they (the Government) imports it for their foreign exchange stores. They love us so much, that after months without offering anything at the (state) butchers they are giving us half a pound of mincemeat, of dubious origin, because no one knows, nor are we informed, what it's made of. What I can assure you is that it doesn't have much meat," she stated.

The regime has also used the ration book as a means of social control and surveillance. Through it they gather data on citizens, their diseases and migratory movements. It meant guarantee food for Cubans when there was no free supply at all in the country. Now it neglects an impoverished majority and leaves them at the mercy of hunger.

"Here those who depend most on the book are those who live on a state salary," says Dania, an accountant at a MSME. "So much so that most of the penniless people are elderly and disabled Cubans who cannot live on their pensions. And, to top it all off, the book keeps them hungry."

The Government has acknowledged that it is unable to import what is necessary for basic rationed groceries in the midst of the country's deep economic crisis. Getting rid of this economic burden by gradually eliminating products and pushing Cubans towards the non-state sector seems to be their strategy.

"The deliveries have never been enough. I was a child and my mother bought pork on the sly because in the 60s there was no farmers market, there was nothing outside the book," recalls retiree Emilia. "But they have you more than 30 products, including a module for the end of the year."

"Those times won't be coming back. I think that if they haven't cancelled the ration book yet it's because they're afraid of a popular uprising," she concluded.

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