Cuba's Christmas not so merry this year as economic crisis grinds on
Business
Cuba's Christmas not so merry this year as economic crisis grinds on
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban craft vendor Melani Ramos says she is feeling pretty down ahead of the holidays this year, as shelves that are bare and friends and family lost to a record-breaking exodus off the island mean there is little Christmas cheer to go around.
Few homes, she told Reuters, would enjoy the aroma of roast pork, black beans and cassava, traditional Cuban favorites for the holidays.
"You see everyone enjoying Christmas in the movies. It just makes me sad," she said. "It's a very quiet day here for a day that should mean unity, hope and family."
Cuba's economy - saddled by U.S. sanctions, a tourism shortfall and a lingering pandemic hangover - is nearing collapse, with fuel, food and medicine shortages rampant, public transportation scarce and tensions running high.
The crisis has spurred a record-breaking migration of nearly half a million people who have arrived at the U.S. border alone in the past two years, according to U.S. government statistics.
The food situation on the communist-run island this holiday season is acute for many. Inflation has driven up prices for even basic items like eggs, while salaries for state workers remain stagnant.
Production of pork, rice and beans - all staples on the traditional holiday dinner table - has plunged 80% in 2023, according to the Minister of Agriculture, Ydael Perez, in statements on television.
The Christmas holiday has had a checkered past in Cuba even in the best of times.
Former leader Fidel Castro initially described his revolution as atheist and erased the date from the Cuban calendar in 1959.
