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Lázaro Raúl González, CPI
HERRADURA, April (www.cubanet.org) - Two weeks ago, the butcher shop in
Herradura received its allotment of eggs and some cold cuts. Immediately, a line
of hundreds formed up front, and the dedicated employees of the butcher shop
stayed well past quitting time, taking care of the customers.
Clarita, an expert in matters related to the rationing system, refused to
take advantage of the butcher shop employees’ sacrifice, saying that’s
when they are most likely to deliver underweight orders. There are no inspectors
at night, she explained.
Consumer fraud is a constant in the shops.
Invariably, in favor of the principal seller, i.e. the State, prices are
altered, spoiled or past-dated, or poor quality products are sold, and consumers
are short-changed.
People out shopping foresee they will be swindled. A kilogram of potatoes
will be short 30 grams, the coffee ration will be short a half-ounce, the rice
ration will be a pound less than stipulated...
People know it, and the authorities know it. Before the end of the first
quarter this year, there were commercial violations in more than 1,400 shops in
Pinar del Río province.
A small army of inspectors imposed 127,600 pesos in fines and recommended
disciplinary measures for the officials charged. But nobody believes in
disciplinary measures.
"They should fire them all," loudly proclaimed a resident, while
showing all who cared to see the meager slice of cold cut he had just been sold
at the butcher shop.
"And who are they going to get," said another.
"If they put me in, I would be doing the same," said a third.
This is all happening in a society which the Cuban government proclaims is "the
fairest in the world," since it is Socialist, where one man is supposed to
be another’s brother, not his predator.
Why complain then about the poor shopkeepers, if their teachers intend to
keep fooling all the people all the time?
Versión
original en español
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