No Rum & No Cigarettes for Cubans

[Nino]

Looks like it is getting very bad for rum drinking & smoking addicted Cubans on the island.

Of course the embargo is to blame. What else ...

https://www.14ymedio.com/sociedad/cubanos-mueren-conseguir-ron-cigarros_0_3051894785.html

For those Cubans who are dying to get rum and cigars Havana Club has disappeared for national sale and tobacco 'flies' from establishments 14ymedio, Havana | March 05, 2021

"Havana Club rum is not for sale anywhere," says Jorge, a fan of these drinks from Holguin who regrets that, in recent times, only foreign drinks are sold at unaffordable prices. "From time to time they take out at 75 pesos some modules with six small bottles that include a variety of samples of Mulata rum, but they take that out and it ends at the moment, because it is the only thing there is."

The shortage of the product in the domestic market contrasts with the good international sales figures that the Havana Club company boasted of in the official press on Wednesday. Despite the pandemic, its sales abroad presented "positive numbers" in 2020, encouraged by the consumption of individuals at home. On the other hand, in Cuba, it is increasingly difficult to find the drink, and the comments of the readers of Cubadebate are a good thermometer.

"Let's hope the stores stock well, because on the street it is twice the price," complained an Internet user. "It is true that it is not a necessary product, but it was not subsidized either and it has disappeared." The executives of the Havana Club company attributed the shortage of the product to the lack of forecast for February, but they maintain that the situation will have been resolved in the coming days since sales in state stores and tourist entities have already resumed.

Amed Álvarez, in charge of marketing, insists that "a stable offer" will be maintained both in shops in pesos and in those selling in foreign currency. "We are in a position to be able to sell in both types of currency the range of products from [rum of] 3 Years to [that of] 7 Years, while the rest will be evaluated in which of the two segments can be better positioned" . Despite the manager's statements, Cubans continue to perceive the shortage of the product in stores throughout the island.

"The Havana Club arrives one day and the next there is no more," says Jorge. "It may take 15 days for them to come out again. On the black market, a 7-year old is costing from 800 to 900 pesos, a 3-year old can be found at 500. If you are looking for a special vintage up to 1,000 pesos you will have to pay" .

In Havana, "the drink appears little, and only the most expensive presentations such as Reserva and Ritual, but for example 3-year-olds have disappeared from state commerce," confirmed a resident of the capital. O

n the other side of the island, Gertrudis, a resident of the Santa Bárbara neighborhood and an employee in a paladar, confirms from Santiago de Cuba the lack of Havana Club rum in the stores in pesos.

It is not the only pleasure, or vice according to the point of view, difficult to satisfy in Cuba. "Right now I just got home and when I was coming, I saw a line to buy cigarettes two and a half blocks away. By a miracle I saw that in a cafeteria because here there is no State that sells, those who sell are the merolicos." Gertrudis adds.

Both alcoholic beverages and tobacco increased in price on January 1, with the start of the Ordering Task.

"On the street, a pack of H. Upmann is costing 40 pesos, instead of 26 that are worth in state stores, the same as the Popular with a red label, while the one with the blue label costs 35", says Jorge.

"Also, they only sell you five packs, so if you want to buy more to save you have to spin more than a top, but they almost always sell out at the moment because the resellers are the first to have access to the sales and in the end you have to die with them.

" Other imported cigarettes, such as Rohtmans and Dunhill, are priced at 50 and 60 pesos on the black market. "But I am almost convinced that those were the ones that were sold inside the hotels and, as right now they have no outlet, they sell them to the population. I have never found one of these in a store in Cuban pesos."