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PINAR DEL RÍO, November 11 (Víctor Rolando Arroyo, UPECI /
www.cubanet.org) - About 50 low-income clients were shut out of a subsidized
dining facility a month ago when health inspectors condemned it due to numerous
violations of hygienic standards.
Some of the 50 regulars of the "De la familia" dining hall in the
town of Briones Montoto are elderly, some are disabled and some are just people
whose income qualifies as low in a country where the average income is
reportedly 240 pesos or less than 10 dollars a month.
Local resident Rodelio Luciano Hernández said the town "does not
have another establishment that offers prepared food at a reasonable price to
those who need it."
Ramón, 66, who asked that his last name be withheld, said the quality
and price left a lot to be desired, but there was no other choice. "All the
food looked bad because the ingredients were of poor quality, and the quantity
never satisfied the customers. The menu was always the same, rice, split peas,
and eggs. And, in the best case, a chicken leg. In spite of all, people ate
there, and that means they were hungry."
The town of Briones Montoto, located less than 20 miles southwest of the
provincial capital Pinar del Río, is one of the so-called
"captive" towns in the island's westernmost Pinar
del Río province. They were established decades ago when peasants from
central Cuba's Escambray mountains were resettled en masse to prevent them from
collaborating with anti-government guerillas in the area.
Editors note: The "pueblos
cautivos" were created by the Cuban authorities with the purpose of
maintaining under control and far from their province of origin the thousands of
peasants who collaborated with the armed resistance movement (branded as "bandits"
by the government) that arose between years 1960-65 on the mountainous region of
the Escambray. The eviction and relocation of these families began in 1970 and
it did not stop until 1985, with the deportation of the last household. To this
day, these farmers and their descendants are forbidden to leave.
Versión
original en español
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