Cubans Stunned As Dollar-Only Stores Are Closed

AP ^ | 5/11/04 | Vanessa Arrington

[anniegetyourgun]

HAVANA (AP) - Cuba's dollar-only stores displayed "closed for inventory" signs Tuesday after the communist government suddenly shut them down, blaming new U.S. measures aimed at squeezing the island's economy.

Long lines stretched from state stores with food and personal hygiene products - nearly the only items still sold to Cubans in dollars - as people scrambled to buy shampoo and soap from rapidly emptying shelves.

[anniegetyourgun]

Probably just the stupid move we were hoping Castro would make.

[annyokie]

That'll show us.

[mudblood]

I guess he just wants to piss off his already oppressed, resentful population. I suggest he duck.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

For many Cubans, rations now cover eight eggs, a pound of chicken, about a pint of cooking oil, six pounds of rice, a half-pound of a ground meat-soy mixture, and a few other goods each month.

Each month? That's an average meal for an NFL lineman or two teenagers or my brother-in-law (when he comes to my house.)

[chilepepper]

The Cuban government is really P.O.ed about Bush's latest tightening of family visits to Cuba, and the sending of money to the island.

Seems it is now illegal in the US to send any money to a member of the Cuban Communist Party.

Someone in Washington finally connected the dots on dollars flowing into Cuba

Que Viva Fidel (Muerto)!

[RS]

Cuba has the entire rest of the world to trade with... and they can't buy soap with their pesos ?

[anniegetyourgun]

I hope the noose is tightening.

[DTA]

castro ping

[cyborg]

hmmmm very interesting

[RobRoy]

>>For many Cubans, rations now cover eight eggs, a pound of chicken, about a pint of cooking oil, six pounds of rice, a half-pound of a ground meat-soy mixture, and a few other goods each month.<<

So the rest of the month they eat at McDonalds? Or does dominoes deliver there?

[LibFreeUSA]

GOOD! I hope this will finally 'light the fire' under these people there and start the "revolution" that was hijacked by these 'anti-Cuban' Fidel Castro.

[The Scourge of Yazid]

It's shameful what some of the people in Havana have to do in order to survive. I mean, when young girls have to offer themselves to foreign tourists in order to eat, you definitely have a problem.

"Bitter Sugar" was a great movie that dealt with these issues. It even covered a group of political dissidents who injected themselves with HIV+ blood in a collective act of defiance. I'm not sure how many people remember that, but it did happen.

I also couldn't imagine living in a nation where you had to listen to that old fart Castro pontificate for over three hours on the virtues of socialism. "Socialisme por Muerte." God help Cuba.

[syriacus]

What a coincidence

Fed fines Swiss bank over sanction violations

The Associated Press

    WASHINGTON --The Federal Reserve fined Switzerland's largest bank, UBS AG, $100 million Monday for allegedly sending dollars to Cuba, Libya, Iran and Yugoslavia in violation of U.S. sanctions against those countries.

    UBS operated a trading center for dollars in its Zurich headquarters under contract with the Federal Reserve of New York, to help the circulation of new U.S. notes and the retirement of old ones. A condition for the Swiss bank was not to deliver or accept dollar notes through the depot to or from banks in countries under U.S. trade sanctions. [excerpt]    

[Southack]

President Bush is the first President in some time to really turn the screws on old Castro.

I love it!

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Or does dominoes deliver there?

Yeah, if they don't show up in 30 minutes, they get the firing squad.

[The Scourge of Yazid]

Do we still have sanctions going against Yugoslavia? Sorry, the republic of Serbia and Montonegro? Don't we have more important things to worry about then what cottage some two-bit Serbian thug is hiding out in?

[george wythe]

Cuba has a complicated apartheid system that has generated three main types of grocery stores:

Super-elite: only foreigners and high-level government officials allowed. Dollar is accepted.

Elite: Dollars or other hard currency are required. Average Cubans with dollars are allowed to buy goods.

Average: Stores are usually bare. When goods are present, both local currency and coupon book are required to buy a meager allowance.

Most Cubans are forced to buy their foodstuff from the "average" stores or the black market; the monthly allowance sold at the "average" stores barely cover a week. Therefore, they must buy goods from the black market to stay alive.

The black market gets its goods from people who buy groceries at the "elite" stores and re-sell them at a higher price, from small farmers who cheat on their government requirements and keep some of the crops, and from people who steal food rotting in the government barns.

It seems that the new regulation of the Cuban goverment will affect the "elite" stores.

[LRS]

We should now teach Castro a lesson in free market competition, and open up some 7-11's at Guantanamo...

[anniegetyourgun]

A very interesting find, syriacus.

[syriacus]

I read an article about it in The NY Sun this morning.

Your thread brought it to mind, but I can't access the Sun online.