Cuba's Ration System Faces Reduced Availability Due to Economic Challenges and Import Constraints

Amate López does not have those items at his bodega. Ana Enamorado, 68, bought split chickpeas and 2 pounds of sugar at her assigned bodega in April.

Enamorado's salary and pension total 8,000 Cuban pesos per month, equivalent to $16. A carton of 30 eggs costs roughly 3,000 pesos, or $125. Two pounds of meat hash costs nearly 900 pesos, equal to $37, while 1 pound of cornmeal costs roughly 200 pesos, or $8.

'There’s hardly anything in the ration book. We’re practically living off air,' Enamorado said. Her lunches and dinners consist of rice, seasoned ground meat, and cornmeal, or sometimes nothing at all.

She once ate pork, lamb, fricassee, fried plantain slices, and red beans and rice but now cuts back to one meal a day. Cuba imports up to 80% of the food it consumes.

'They just don’t have the money to do it anymore,' said William LeoGrande, a professor at American University who has tracked Cuba for years. The state spends far more money than it takes in, with the bulk of funds allocated to health, education, social welfare, and food imports.

LeoGrande said the government's investment in tourism is way higher than the demand for tourism, which has plummeted. On a recent sunny afternoon, Lázaro Cuesta, 56, stood in line to receive a daily allowance of two small bread rolls for him and his wife. The bread rolls are now 40 grams each and cost 75 Cuban cents, compared to 80 grams each for 5 Cuban cents previously.

Cuesta said the quality is worse. Cuesta works in food preparation and earns 6,000 Cuban pesos per month, equivalent to $250. His wife, a retired nurse, receives 4,800 pesos in monthly pension. They also receive $200 a month from her brother and daughter who live abroad, which allows them to buy avocados, eggs, and red beans and rice.

'If not for the remittances, hang yourself,' Cuesta said as he grabbed his neck with his right hand. Roughly 60% of Cubans on the island receive remittances. Rosa Rodríguez, 54, of Havana earns 4,000 Cuban pesos per month, equal to $8, which she described as not a bad salary for Cuba but simply not enough no matter how hard one works.

'Everything is scarce here — everything — even that wretched bread they give us,' Rodríguez said. She obtained a donation of 4 pounds of rice at her assigned bodega in April while struggling to buy other basic goods. 'If you buy beans, then you can’t buy sugar,' she said, noting most of her salary goes to a large carton of eggs.

In recent years, Cuba’s government has discussed subsidizing people in need instead of goods to free up money for fuel, medicine, and other imports. U.S. energy blockade.