While the Cuban people suffer through shortages of food, water, medicine, fuel, and blackouts, the communist Castro regime has been busy launching a new beer you can only buy with foreign currency.
Via Periodico Cubano (my translation):
The Cuban beer Parranda, which is bottled in Mariel thanks to foreign capital from Swinkels Brewers Spain Bavaria, began sales in Convertible Currency Stores (MLC) in Havana, such as the famous market at 3rd and 70.
The beverage, which stands out for being the only one in the country sold in plastic bottles, has a cost of $1.20 (almost 250 Cuban pesos, CUP, according to the informal exchange rate) for the 500 ml format, and it goes up to $2.95 (610 CUP) for the 1.5 liter bottle.
The price is clearly unaffordable for a Cuban whose source of income is a state salary. In Cuba, the average salary is just over 4,000 pesos, and the minimum is set at 2,100 CUP. For retirees who, after a lifetime of work, want to enjoy a beer made in Cuba, the situation is even worse, as the minimum pension is 1,528 CUP.
Not only is this new beer available only if you have dollars or euros, it’s also priced beyond the means of most Cubans, who earn an average of $20 a month and struggle daily through shortages of food and medicine. This is socialism in action.