HAVANA, December 19 (Silvio Herrera, AFPCP) - Residents of Havana complain
that the quality of the cakes offered under the rationing system -one per child,
on his birthday- are of poor quality and much inferior to those sold in the
dollar stores.
"La Colonial" bakery, in Old Havana, uses unrefined sugar to bake
its cakes. The cakes themselves are small; one will yield twelve small portions.
In the dollar stores, one can buy a small meringue cake of good quality for 5
dollars. A chocolate cake is 10 dollars, or 210 pesos at the going rate. The
average salary for a Cuban is 221 pesos a month.
An irate father said of the cakes sold at "La Colonial": "This
is incredible in a sugar-producing country; how am I going to feed my son’s
friends a piece of this mess? This is not like the cake the government provided
to celebrate Elian González’s birthday."
Versión
original en español
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