Tania Díaz Castro, Grupo de Trabajo Decoro
HAVANA, March - The official daily Granma on Monday tries to explain what the problem is with the potatoes. It tries to answer the question, for example, of why the potatoes have not been distributed to the people if the harvest started some time back. It says the problem was that potatoes were
planted late because of the rains.
It explains the usual; the coolers don't have enough capacity, the oxygen and humidity affect the quality of the product. It analyses numbers and charts, levels of production always below those of forty-one years ago, andthe risk of losing part of the harvest if it isn't put away now.
Nothing that Granma says is convincing. What my messenger says is more real. He shops for the few supplies offered by the ration book. He went to a fruit and vegetable stand in the very heart of the tourist zone of Vedado. He saw the shrivelled potatoes, with black holes and roots sticking out
of them, and returned home. He told all his customers the same thing: "I'm sorry, but if I wouldn't buy them for myself, I wouldn't buy them for you."
I went by the stand myself, and I asked about the problem with the potatoes. They say that very few people bought them, and that the same was happening in other outlets in the vicinity. This information, unfortunately, did not reach Granma.
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