From our Joys of Socialism and Communism Bureau
Every leftist on earth — especially those who run the news media — loves to constantly blame the U.S. “embargo” for all of Cuba’s shortages. Today, for instance, the world’s major news outlets are full of stories about the suffering caused to Cubans by the “embargo”.
But the real culprit for Cuba’s descent into a sub-third-world destitute country is none other than Castro, Inc.’s centralized communist economy, run by the state monopoly ACOPIO, which has never been able to produce enough food to feed the Cuban people.
Abridged and loosely translated from Periodico Cubano
More than 22 tons of tomatoes have rotted for a farmer in Artemisa, due to delays in collection by the State, which, while demanding producers, fails to comply with contracts and allows large amounts of food to spoil.
The usufructuary Humberto Martínez Lara told the local newspaper El Artemiseño that he suffers the same situation every year. “Acopio has not given me a single box since the start of the harvest on December 25. Today it is too ripe and I can only send it to the industry, but then it costs half of what goes to consumption”.
After losing part of his seedbed due to the September rains, he planted again and achieved high yields. By his own means, he managed to carry out production “without fertilizers, herbicides or other products, protected by biological means such as beauveria (foliar application that works as a biological insecticide or biopesticide) and efficient microorganisms.”
Humberto Martínez is one of the largest producers of the vegetable in Artemisa thanks, among other reasons, to its tradition of guaranteeing seedbeds. In addition, he has onions, eggplants and various crops on 13.4 hectares on his land.
His tomato is mainly destined for the State Agricultural Market of that province for the production of sauce and Vita nova, which are then sold at 40 CUP per liter and are widely accepted by the population.
However, despite the demand for these products, tomatoes are also spoiling due to organizational and investment problems, as happened in the VillaRoja UEB. “The boiler had blockages and leaks, which had to be fixed before the start of the campaign.” However, it did not happen and they have received over 200 boxes to process. What will happen to them?
Continue reading HERE in Spanish