CUBA NEWS
January 30, 2003

FROM CUBA
Soap and detergent in short supply in dollar markets in eastern Cuba

HOLGUÍN, January 28 (www.cubanet.org) - A perceived shortage of soap and detergent in the dollar markets in the mining community of Moa, in eastern Cuba's Holguín province, caused a run on what supplies there were, as consumers bought out the stocks.

An article published in the local Communist Party's newspaper "Ahora" labeled the people who bought out the supplies "speculators and ill-intentioned opportunists for echoing the rumors that soap and detergent would disappear from the markets for lack of raw materials.

The newspaper assured readers that the supply of raw materials was "guaranteed" and that the products would be immediately available in all markets.

But 10 days after the article came out, the 15-, 20-, 25-, and 35-cent soap bars as well as the 35-, 50-, and 55-cent detergent bags could not be found in any market's shelves in Moa.

Market clerks and managers confirmed that stocks of both products had run out.

Detergent is only sold in the stores that sell only in hard currency, commonly known as dollar stores. Soap is included in the government's rationing system, at the rate of one bar of poor quality soap per person a month, at a cost of 10 cents (peso).

Any scarcity of soap and detergent is perhaps even more significant for Moa's residents than for others; a mining community, in a region of rich, red soil, with two nickel-refining plants near town, means heavy air pollution and dirt all over.

For a long time, miners were allowed to buy an additional quantity of soap under the ration book, but the government took away that privilege when the economic crisis hit in the early 90s.


Versión original en español

 

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