Kitchen appliances and cosmetics are just some of things 'mulas' bring back from abroad. But now the mule-train has stopped
United States has embargoed Cuba’s economy since the 1960s, the flow of goods, money and people between them has never stopped. Often the interchange is carried out bywere Cubans who left in the early 1980s and sent money and supplies to families who remained. Cuba’s government encouraged them as a way to support its economy, says Emilio Morales, president of the Havana Consulting Group, based in Miami.
With the outbreak of covid-19, Cuba’s borders closed and the mule-train stopped running. Prices of soap, appliances, nappies and powdered milk soared. Even the few products that Cuba makes are hard to find. Toothpaste disappeared. Cuban-made dentifrice will not be back before July, said the interior minister, Betsy Velázquez, because the government has no money to buy the raw materials. Cubans are still waiting for it.
The government, which has controlled the covid-19 outbreak, has done less well in keeping shelves stocked. At a meeting with ministers in May, broadcast on television, President Miguel Díaz-Canel lamented that Cuba didn’t produce more and lemons, which he called, weirdly to Cubans, “the basis of everything”. He also emphasised the need for pre-made pizza dough, forgetting that most Cubans can’t lay their hands on cheese and tomato sauce., says Mr Morales.
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