Sancti Spíritus: “Calling it carnage is saying a lot”

Sancti Spíritus/From the first hour, the recently inaugurated point of sale of the Sancti Spíritus Meat Companylocated in San Román corner Santa Elena, one block from the Central Highway,

It brings together dozens of people. The main hook of the retail establishment – ​​the first of its kind – that of “more affordable” prices, undoubtedly works. Another thing is what customers find when they are in front of them.

“It is true that it is 200 or 300 pesos cheaper than in MSMEs, but that does not mean that it is affordable,” lamented this Wednesday an elderly woman who was waiting in line to buy one of the most modest products in the tablet, beef leg and belly, at 200 pesos per kilogram.

As the authorities announced, payment is in national currency, but not in cash, but online.

“It’s cheaper for me to buy it here,” he said, and before the wide eyes of the less well-off in line, he added, referring to his family abroad: “My daughter sent me the money.”

The fact that it is mandatory to buy by the kilo and not possible by the pound is one of the reasons why the highest quality offers are not for everyone. For example, the whole pork leg, at 3,000 pesos per kilogram; the pork shoulder, at 2,600, and the ham, at 1,209.46.

The pork shoulder was precisely what one of the women came to buy. “It’s cheaper for me to buy it here,” he said, and before the wide eyes of the less well-off in line, he added, referring to his family abroad: “My daughter sent me the money.”

The tablet is, certainly, scarce: only five items this Wednesday, the cheapest of them, pure offal: chokezuela bone, at 100 pesos per kilogram. A retiree, former administrator of a cafeteria, grimaced: “I didn’t even take that with me when I worked. That’s a slimy thing with its paws, no one can eat it.” Another young man who was waiting declared: “To call it carnage is saying a lot.”

Lianet González, deputy director of the entity, referred to this type of cheap goods in statements to the official press, calling it a “by-product” and “edible uses of beef.” It is something that, he stated, “was used as an input in the production of canned meats and we are doing it as a direct sale.”

And he detailed: “After the cattle are collected and the meat is used, which is 29%, 30% or 31%, there is first-class meat, second-class meat, floor meat, etc., all the veal, the red bone and other by-products remain that are very difficult to market, especially with the veal cut from a common practice in meat producers.”

Complaints about the scarcity and mediocrity of the merchandise have not been long in coming, when the point of sale, located in front of the offices of the Meat Company, in a parking lot from which a small piece of land was torn away, is not even a week old. “Although they said they were going to maintain a constant varied offering, the reality is that they release very few things and they sell out quickly,” said another customer. “The first few days they took out liver, yesterday they took out heart, but they ran out first thing in the morning.”

Each customer can also only purchase a maximum of “two units of each type of product,” as was warned when the opening of the new butcher shop was announced.

To make matters worse, not everyone who waits in the long line gets to take something. “This is the third day that I have come, to see if I can buy,” complained a young mother, who explained the main problem: “Payment is mandatory through Transfermóvil, and if the signal goes out, the line does not move.”

Indeed, despite its privileged location, in front of the Camilo Cienfuegos Hospital, the most important in the city, and therefore within a “prioritized circuit”, the store is not immune to blackouts or poor connectivity. If the seasoned customer manages to get to the counter and order, the operation will not be complete until he or she pays online and receives proof of the transfer. “Until that code is shown, they don’t deliver your order and the next customer doesn’t move forward,” said a man, desperate, who saw that this wouldn’t be his day to purchase any meat either. “Imagine, they spend up to 20 minutes with each client!”

The rule that allows state companies to have their own retail stores was approved last August, and is part of the “176 measures” announced by the regime to make the economy more flexible.

In addition to this retail store, the Meat Company has other sales markets on-line in foreign currency, one in Sancti Spíritus and another in Trinidad, so that families abroad can buy products from Cubans residing on the Island.

Soon, the deputy director said, they will open more points of sale in collaboration with the Cimex corporation, which belongs to the Gaesa military conglomerate: one in the Garaita Market in the city of Sancti Spíritus, another in the La Amistad store in Trinidad and another in El Álamo, in Cabaiguán. “All in USD,” the official said.