Havana/Neither the capped prices, nor the fines, nor the inspectors who tour private businesses with notebook and pen in hand have managed to make everyone aware of the official offensive against inflation. This Tuesday, in a store in Havana’s El Vedado, a carton of 30 units reached 4,300 pesos. Those who cannot afford such an outlay must buy them at retail, for 145 pesos each.
Eggs are among the products that authorities have tried to keep in check through price caps, controls and inspections. But each new administrative attack ends up colliding with the same reality: the costs of imports, transportation, blackouts, problems with refrigeration, fuel and, above all, the value of currencies that continues to escalate.
The increase also comes at a time when the dollar is close to 700 pesos in the informal market.
The rise also comes at a time when the dollar is close to 700 pesos in the informal market, a psychological frontier that just a few years ago would have seemed crazy. The US currency carries with it practically all prices and on family tables its high value cuts portions, simplifies recipes and empties plates. The egg, which for decades was an emergency resource when meat was lacking and a quick solution to accompany rice, has thus become a thermometer of the crisis.
In El Vedado, that thermometer now reads 4,300 pesos and there does not seem to be an inspector capable of reducing the fever.
