Tuesday, January 24, 2006

No pork in Moron butcher shops

No pork in Morón butcher shops

MORON, Cuba - January 16 (José Manuel Caraballo Bravo, APLA / www.cubanet.org) - Consumers in Morón couldn't find pork at their butcher shops last week; some looked to the municipal government to solve the problem, others say the government is the one that caused the problem in the first place.

Back in September, the regional government determined that private producers could no longer sell pork, which would be henceforth handled by government-run butcher shops. Many now say they foresaw what would happen.

Those in the know explain that the government-run markets that sell to consumers, such as Mercaditos La Ideal, are not allowed to raise prices by the government, to prevent possible protests or worse. But, they say, the concern distributing the meat, another government operation that goes by the name La Loza, has raised the wholesale price to the point where managers cannot meet their objectives.

Faced with this situation, those that dare obtain their pork in the black market, risking fines of up to 1,500 pesos and confiscation of any meat involved in the transaction.

http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y06/jan06/23e5.htm

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