A video circulating on social media reveals the burning of a container filled with eggs at a warehouse in Consolación del Sur, Pinar del Río, sparking widespread anger among Cubans. The video was shared by an individual known as Javi (@JaviXCubaLibre) on the social platform X (formerly Twitter), claiming that the incident took place amidst a severe shortage of this essential product. "Children haven't received eggs from the state for eight months," the person narrating the video remarked.
While the individual accused the regime of choosing to destroy the eggs rather than distribute them to the hungry populace, it is likely that the eggs were spoiled due to poor storage conditions or other reasons. "This is a warehouse here in Consolación del Sur. The pile used to reach the ceiling. It's gone down quite a bit, quite a bit," the whistleblower described, highlighting the scale of the waste.
The video corroborates the whistleblower's statements, showing a towering mound of burnt egg cartons, with smoke still rising at the time of filming. "They do this hidden from the people," the whistleblower added.
Widespread Food Scarcity Amid Economic Turmoil
This incident comes at a time when Cuba is grappling with an acute food crisis, with runaway inflation pushing the price of an egg carton to as much as 5,000 pesos. The situation is further exacerbated by the country's plummeting domestic production, forcing the regime to resort to importing eggs from abroad.
Between June 2023 and August 2024, Cuba imported eggs from the Dominican Republic at a cost of $6,726,483.6. This move was driven by the pressing need to offset the shortfall in national production, a consequence of the severe agricultural crisis, particularly in the poultry sector, which is suffering due to a lack of resources and supplies.
Growing Demand for Imported Eggs
Gregory Marte, the executive director of the Dominican Association of Poultry Producers (ADA), noted in an interview with Diario Libre that the Cuban market has seen a significant rise in egg demand, spurred by the island's internal challenges in maintaining its own production capabilities.