The Story of the Ration Book in Cuba

The Story of the Ration Book in Cuba

March 18, 2014

Dariela Aquique



HAVANA TIMES – No, it's not a fairy tale and the "happily ever after"

ending remains to be seen. Rather, this is the chronicle of a little

book that's been part of the lives of Cubans for many years: the Ration

Booklet.



The information is a little contradictory regarding the date in which

this little notebook was instituted as a regulatory mechanism. According

to official sources it came into use on July 12, 1963 for the

distribution of subsidized food products to the population, with the

purpose of controlling the quantity and frequency with which a person

could buy food. But articles published outside of the government sites

assure us that it was March of 1962. The fact is, when I arrived in this

world the ration book was already here.



1960…



When Washington decided to deprive Cuba of money and supplies, they

believed that the resultant hunger and desperation would lead to the

rapid overthrow of Fidel Castro's government. They hadn't the least

notion of the inventive capacity of those who aimed at perpetuating

themselves in power; much less of the power of resistance of a people

who have been the only real victims of these two clashing forces for

over half a century.



In this way, the ration book was born. Under the pretense of

counteracting the economic war that the country was facing, a ration

booklet was instituted to assure the "equitable" distribution of food

products. El Mundo (a newspaper of the time) published in their edition

of Tuesday, March 13 1962, an article titled, "Not more for some, nor

less for others; the same for all."



The Ration Book (National distribution, per person per month)



Product Quantity

Rice 6 lbs.

All types of grains 1 ½ lbs.

Animal or vegetable fat 2 lbs.

Bath soap 1 bar

Wash soap 1 bar

Detergent 1 medium packet or one large for 2 people

Toothpaste 1 large tube for every 2 people or a giant-sized one for 4

Beef 3/4 lb. a week

Chicken 1 – 2 lbs. a month

Fish 1/2 lb. per person every 15 days

Eggs 5 monthly

Tubers 3 ½ lbs. a week (2 additional lbs.of malanga/children under 7)

Butter 1/8 lb./month

Milk 1 liter daily for every 5 persons older than 7, or its equivalent

in 6 cans of condensed or evaporated milk monthly per person. In

addition, 1 liter daily for each child under seven.

However, this measure didn't arrive by itself. Instead, it generated a

new bureaucratic mechanism: the creation of OFICODA (Office for Consumer

Control and supply distribution). This entity with its numerous

employees would also serve (as became evident as years passed) as an

apparatus for citizen control, under pretense of controlling consumers.



1970…



Considered by some as the worst year of the Cuban economy; barely 11

years had passed since the triumph of the Revolution, but the people of

the island already shared a sentiment of longing for the past, that

eternal nostalgia for what was and no longer is. Remember how it was

before..? Those classic lines that have persisted up until today were

already being heard: And it's because by then the now customary ration

booklet was very different than what it had been in the beginning, in

that the quotas assigned to each citizen had diminished considerably.



1980…



These well remembered years that some characterize as "the time when

Cuba still laughed" took advantage of Russian protection and aid from

the socialist camp. The ration book lost a little of its central

importance because many products began to be sold freely at prices that

were accessible to the average Cuban. During this epoch any family could

buy enough food with their salary. Nevertheless, complainers were not

lacking, and the reductions of the period, as well as the disappearance

of some products from the ration book generated discontent. The most

notable example was with beef; from ¾ of a pound weekly, this product

went to ¾ lb. every nine days, then to every 15 days and finally to a

month, 45 days, until we never saw it again.



1990…



With the fall of the Berlin wall and the disintegration of the USSR, the

supply of products to Cuba was reduced drastically. In the midst of the

economic crisis, the country opened its economy to foreign investment.

Tourism began to develop as a source of income, and inequality in

personal income began to be felt. The ration book lost its character as

a symbol of equality. Nonetheless the government continued subsidizing

basic foods and with the ration book it was able to share out the little

that entered or was produced on the island.



2000… the death sentence



The point is – Cuba is no longer the same. Now there are many

self-employed workers and a considerable number of people receive money

from family members abroad. The salaries and living conditions of those

who are employees of foreign companies or of tourist enterprises mark

another difference. Artists, athletes or other professional sectors that

travel frequently outside the country and the members of the military

who receive large amounts of stimulus pay have higher incomes and other

options for places to buy their products. To be truthful, they no longer

need the ration booklet.



But there is a great deal of concern in one sector of the population for

whom the ration book is still utterly necessary. With the little that

they receive through it, this group of Cubans resolves a large problem.

Up until now they have eaten, badly or well, thanks to the ration book;

if it is taken away from them, given the fact that the majority of the

salaries and pensions are so low, they won't have enough to live on.



This vulnerable group: retired people, those who don't have any family

outside the country and those who live exclusively on their salaries,

live in fearful anticipation of the day that the ration book no longer

exists. They feel certain that the ineffective Social Security System

will not resolve the problem for them.



The ration booklet has also served for decades as a way to deliver extra

food quotas to people on special diets as prescribed by their doctors;

sometimes including items such as meat, milk, tubers and fish. This has

actually become a new type of business, since some unscrupulous doctors

and other health workers sell the certificates for special diets to

people who have no diseases whatsoever, but who can pay for this fraud

to alleviate their problem of filling the cupboard.



The ration book is today a pending task for the State, as part of their

much touted policy of "economic changes". They have been talking openly

for years about its slow elimination. The Vice President of the Council

of Ministers, Marino Murillo, has expressed that they are studying how

to eliminate it, but that it's too complicated to take it away all at once.



According to this functionary, guaranteeing the basic products to the

family units costs the State US $1.16 billion a year, without counting

the additional expenses of transportation and other logistics. He claims

that with this distribution the Government has assumed 88% of the cost

and the population pays only 12% of the cost of the food. President Raul

Castro has affirmed that the country's economy can't continue to assume

such an expense, and that the elimination of the ration system has

already begun by reducing the number of products that are sold this way.



The Current Ration Book (monthly per person distribution)



Product Quantity

Rice 5 lbs.

Grains (beans only) 10 ounces

Cooking oil 1/2 lb.

Sugar 4 lbs.

Salt 1 Kg (every 3 months)

Pasta 1 lb. (every 3 months)

Coffee 4 ounces

Matches 1 box

Additional rice 2 lbs.

Chicken 17 ounces

Soy meat 6 ounces

Eggs 5 a month

Children:

Compote 13 units monthly up until 3 years of age

Milk 1 kg (every five days up until 7 years of age)

Beef or chicken 6 ounces (monthly up until 13 years of age)

For seniors:

Cereal 1 kg

Rice 1 kg



NOTE: The municipalities and villages have smaller assignations of some

products than in the cities.

So what will become of those old people for whom the Ration Book is a

sort of fifth limb if it is eliminated? We'll never again hear those

frenetic shouts in the street of "The chicken's here!" "They just

brought in the cooking oil!" Or "They've got macaroni!" The comedians

won't be able to make any more jokes about the celebrated ration booklet

over whose last days of life we are currently presiding.



Source: The Story of the Ration Book in Cuba - Havana Times.org -

http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=102479