The Cuban people are mired in a tragic paradox. Their land is full of potential, yet hunger persists. How can this once-prosperous island, rich in natural resources and famed for its sought-after agricultural products, be depleted to the fruitless hull it has become?
Between 1945 and 1953 (the last available statistics on this subject before Castro took power), the United Nations estimated that Cubans had an average calorie intake of 2,730 per Cuban per day, equal to that of Germany, and greater than that of Austria, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Japan, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, and India, among others.
In 1958, Cuba’s industrial wages were the eighth-highest in the world and its agricultural wages ranked seventh. In the 1950s, with half a day’s wages, a Cuban worker could purchase seven eggs, 2,600 grams of sugar, 1,500 grams of bread, 380 grams of butter, and 390 grams of meat. And in 1957, Cuba's annual inflation rate was 3.1 percent.
Today, quite a bit has changed. Cuba is suffering an acute food shortage and is now rationing food. Its regime has been forced, for the first time in its history, to beg for powdered milk from the UN's World Food Programme.
In August 2023, the regime admitted that it had been selling syrup instead of subsidized........