Versión Español
EspañolThe Cuban government has begun selling mattresses and other household items to residents affected by Hurricane Irma. Products include towels, sheets, electric coffeemakers, pots and pressure cookers (priced at US $58) as well as foam mattresses (US $59).
However, those prices, according to the National Bureau of Statistics and Information, are beyond what any normal Cuban resident will be able to afford, as the average monthly salary is US $95. Officials maintain that their program marks down the products to 50 percent of their sales value. But they still aren’t accessible for most residents.
“We apply a discount of 50-percent sales price to this module. If the kitchen has a combined sales value of 500 pesos, they are offered at 250 pesos,” said Jeisa Saborit, senior specialist at the company Comercio de La Habana. “There are also mattresses, and a bathroom module consisting of soap, detergent and toothpaste.”
Saborit also said that the products aren’t intended to be donations, but are rather part of their “business circulation plan” that will help hurricane victims in need.
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Cibercuba, however, claimed that “the similarities between the mattresses sold by the state to the ones that arrived days ago to the island as a donation by the Ecuadorian government have not gone unnoticed.”
Gobierno cubano comienza a vender colchones para damnificados por Irma https://t.co/yuYc0DKqgS pic.twitter.com/df051ePUAk
— Cubanos en España (@cubanosenspain) October 5, 2017
Cuban government begins to sell mattresses donated to hurricane victims
