Cuba today makes colossal efforts to guarantee food for the population, in the midst of the great obstacles imposed by the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States.
According to President Miguel Díaz-Canel, that hostile policy of suffocation, strengthened in recent years to unprecedented levels, forced the country to carry out a titanic task since its imposition in the early years of the Revolution.
He noted that, in the midst of the current complex scenario, his government remains committed to ensuring the distribution of the basic food basket to all Cubans.
The tightening of the U.S. siege has a significant impact on the energy issue (which affects the food distribution chain), and also on the lack of financing, which hinders the search for the necessary resources to acquire these essential products, he said.
Appearing the day before in the weekly news program From the Presidency, the Cuban leader said that Washington's siege is complemented with media intoxication campaigns that seek to hide the real causes of the situation the country is going through, to blame everything on the government, and to provoke unrest and internal divisions.
In view of this, Díaz-Canel urged to systematize timely and detailed information to the population on the situation of the distribution of products, redouble efforts to make this task more efficient, and guarantee the regularity of deliveries until returning to the moment of ensuring them on the first day of each month.
In the program, broadcasted on the Presidency's Youtube channel, the head of State also acted as moderator, and the Minister of Domestic Trade, Betsy Díaz, and the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, Oscar Pérez-Oliva, also intervened.
Both officials responded to the concerns and claims of the population, presented by Díaz-Canel, and confirmed that there are good prospects for the distribution of the standard family basket for the months of April and May, after the arrival in the country of several purchases and donations.
They assured that there are contracts that will allow guaranteeing the continuity of the commercialization of these highly demanded supplies.
The Cuban President said that, in parallel to this effort, the country needs a transformation of the energy matrix in the transportation of these products, especially at the municipal level, taking advantage of the progress made by several Cuban industries in the production of light electrical equipment, and encouraging local production.
He also informed that Prime Minister Manuel Marrero will meet this Friday via videoconference with the governors of the whole country to join efforts from the territorial, local and national levels in order to optimize the available means of transportation and speed up the distribution of the basic food basket.