From our Bureau of Non-existent Blockades Always Blamed for Economic Failures in Latrine American Socialist Totalitarian Hellholes
End the blockade! Let us buy all this stuff on credit, so we don’t ever have to pay for anything. We deserve free stuff all the time. We’re a victim of Darwinian dog-eat-dog capitalism, and just like all the immigrants flooding the U.S. we deserve free stuff too.
Hey, Biden, we want to be part of your diversity, equity, inclusion policy. End the embargo. Don’t make us pay for what we get from your very rich country.
We used to sell you sugar, and now we’re buying tons of sugar from you. Don’t you see how much we need to be fed, clothed, and housed by you? And, hey, we’ll “buy” so much stuff from you that you’ll need to supply us with sturdier shopping carts than the ones we’ve been using for the past 64 years, eight months, and twenty-one-days.
Loosely translated from Diario de Cuba
The Cuban dictatorship’s purchases from the United States never cease to surprise, since in addition to food and products of agricultural origin — common on that list — millions of dollars in new and used automobiles, liquid refrigerant, industrial washing machines, cane sugar and even salt.
According to a report on the matter from the Cuba-US Economic and Trade Council, so far in 2023 the Cuban Government has imported $450,869 in refrigerant liquid from that country; $6,097 on coin-operated washing machines, and $11,040 on microwave ovens. These products, probably acquired by MSMEs authorized by the Government.
Likewise, and as part of the new businesses established by businessmen related to the power leadership in Cuba, such as Hugo Cancio and his company Katapulk, the amount of purchases of used vehicles rose to $606,207 in the first half of 2023, while in new cars reached $151,768. This is for cars between 1,500 and 3,000 cubic centimeters.
Despite the critical shortage of coffee in Cuba, which the authorities have not distributed as part of the ration book since the beginning of the year, Havana has acquired 2,342,281 dollars of this product from its northern neighbor, as well as 1,234,503 in cookies, and 240,723 in beer.
Among the unusual products in the Cuban shopping basket appear, among others, $66,568 in manicure and pedicure preparations; 13,259 in radial tires; 13,008 in sheets; 15,810 in carpets; 33,530 in footwear; 20,617 in pesticides; 27,840 in shampoo, and 6,806 in pet food.
The dependence on the US market for products of which the Island was previously self-sufficient is such that 10,027 dollars in cane sugar appear on the list; 13,165 in salt, and 353,064 in hams.