Price War in Havana

Price War in Havana / 14ymedio, Zunilda Mara
Posted on January 22, 2016

14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 21 January 2016 – The imposition of
price controls in some markets in Havana has provoked contradictory
reactions in the population. Although it has been a relief to consumers'
pockets in the midst of the rising cost of living, the measure has been
accompanied by an unwelcome raid on the cart vendors who sell
agricultural products in the capital's neighborhoods.

On Tuesday, the Youth Labor Army (EJT) market on Tulipan Street in the
Nuevo Vedado neighborhood dawned with a singular hustle. After more than
two weeks of empty stalls and worried consumers, a dozen products went
on sale with controlled prices.

The measure was expected after an experiment that started earlier this
month in Artemisa province, with the sale of agricultural products at "a
maximum fixed value" by the Provincial Administrative Council.

In Havana, the controlled prices have not been extended to the majority
of markets managed by the state farms and cooperatives. "This market has
been one of the first to test the experiment," said a vendor at the
market administered by officials of the EJT.

The young man, whose stall was selling pineapples, yucca and other
products, seemed apologetic at having to charge a customer 2.80 Cuban
pesos (CUP) for a pound of guavas. The same quantity of product hadn't
dropped below 20 CUP at the end of last year. "This can't last long,
because eight guavas for six pesos can't be maintained," the employee
complained.

A very different picture was developing in the central market of Egido,
managed by private sellers and intermediaries. Since the beginning of
the week a pound of red beans has held steady at 16 CUP and pork hasn't
fallen below 50 CUP for months. Despite the high prices, the quality of
the merchandise attracted dozens of buyers on Tuesday.

"We'll see how long they keep it up," comments Gerardo, a truckdriver
who brings goods from private farms in Alquizar to the well-known
market. "Since the beginning of the year they're making our lives hell
on the highway," he says, referring to the escalation of police controls
on all the trucks carrying farm products and trying to enter the capital.

"Now we even have to show proof that we bought the fuel legally,"
complains Gerardo, who says "with these decisions prices are going to
shoot up."

Next to him, a customer was shocked by taro at 15 CUP a pound,
threatening to leave "for the EJT" but ending up buying it there. "A
ride from Boyeros and Tulipan costs me 10 CUP. What I'll save on one
thing I'll spend on another. Anyway, the quality isn't the same, here it
is always better because 'the master's eye fattens the horse'," she
concludes.

Television has accompanied the price controls with reports blaming
intermediaries for the rise in prices. An appeal recently published by
the National Union of Agricultural and Forestry Workers called for the
total elimination of intermediaries saying that this would "contribute
to a lowering of prices."

Havana residents are in the midst of a silent price war between the
State and private vendors which has almost completely eliminated from
the urban landscape an element they has already become common: vendors
with rolling carts. These improvised "kiosks with wheels" bring access
to agricultural markets to distant places and offer their goods
house-to-house.

Julia, who lives at Espada and San Lazaro Streets, says she is willing
to pay "when I see a cart in the street." With a bedriddem mother, she
comments that she doesn't have "the time or money to go a long way to
buy food."

Tato, one of the cart vendors who for years has sold near the park at
Infanta and San Lazaro, was sitting on a wall this Tuesday with his
legendary cart. "The inspectors they send take everything, the police
won't let us live anymore," he says. He says the suppliers have had
their goods confiscated on the roads entering the city.

The old man is convinced that what is happening now has been ordered by
Raul Castro. "But let's see how long the joke of controlled prices
lasts," he says.

Meanwhile, a young employee at the EJT market cajoled a girl looking
undecidedly at pineapples. "Buy them now, my girl, you don't know when
they'll run out. It's the right gift for Epiphany, just a little late."

Source: Price War in Havana / 14ymedio, Zunilda Mara | Translating Cuba
- http://translatingcuba.com/price-war-in-havana-14ymedio-zunilda-mara/