Cuba's pocket-size government ration book has been circulating for more than six decades. It once offered a bounty of products that have dwindled as the island's economic crises deepen. A growing number of Cubans depend on state grocery stores in the socialist country of nearly 10 million people.
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Here's how to dry out your smartphoneIs TMI really such a bad thing? Here’s the case for oversharingLíder supremo iraní dice que Teherán protegerá sus"capacidades nucleares y de misiles"A man shows his ration book known as a “libreta,” backdropped by a framed image of Fidel Castro, at a state-run bodega in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, May 2, 2026. A woman stands at the counter of a state-run bodega in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, May 2, 2026.
Vendors wait for customers at a weekly food fair in Alamar, Havana province, Cuba, Saturday, May 2, 2026. People line up to buy papaya at a weekly food fair in Alamar, Havana province, Cuba, Saturday, May 2, 2026. Seen through the window of a passing American classic car, seniors stand in line to buy bread in Old Havana, Cuba, Friday, April 10, 2026.
A man shows his ration book known as a “libreta,” backdropped by a framed image of Fidel Castro, at a state-run bodega in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, May 2, 2026. A man shows his ration book known as a “libreta,” backdropped by a framed image of Fidel Castro, at a state-run bodega in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, May 2, 2026.
A woman stands at the counter of a state-run bodega in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, May 2, 2026. A woman stands at the counter of a state-run bodega in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, May 2, 2026. Vendors wait for customers at a weekly food fair in Alamar, Havana province, Cuba, Saturday, May 2, 2026. Vendors wait for customers at a weekly food fair in Alamar, Havana province, Cuba, Saturday, May 2, 2026.
People line up to buy papaya at a weekly food fair in Alamar, Havana province, Cuba, Saturday, May 2, 2026. People line up to buy papaya at a weekly food fair in Alamar, Havana province, Cuba, Saturday, May 2, 2026. Seen through the window of a passing American classic car, seniors stand in line to buy bread in Old Havana, Cuba, Friday, April 10, 2026.
Seen through the window of a passing American classic car, seniors stand in line to buy bread in Old Havana, Cuba, Friday, April 10, 2026.
HAVANA — José Luis Amate López hasn’t had a customer in almost two weeks, not counting the scrawny brown kitten that slinks around the bodega where he works in central The shelves once laden with goods during his childhood sat nearly empty in late April, with barely anything to offer the 5,000 clients who depend on the state-run store for subsidized food.on meager salaries in a socialist country of nearly 10 million where basic goods increasingly are sold in U.S. dollars.established the ration book — “la libreta”— in the early 1960s. It offered heavily subsidized goods ranging from milk to fish and even cigarettes.
Cubans knew their assigned bodega would be stocked with everything they needed by the first of the month. The ration book shrank during the “Special Period,” when Soviet aid plummeted in the 1990s and deprivation hit Cuba. During that time, Cubans lost an average of 5% to 25% of their body weight, according to one study published in a medical journal, with goods including bread, milk, eggs and chicken in scarce quantities.
Amate López recalled that his assigned bodega was so full decades ago “you could barely walk. ” It’s now an empty room with dusty old posters detailing the prices and amounts of nearly two dozen goods no longer available, including yogurt, pasta and bars of soap. Two industrial freezers once packed with meat and chicken serve only to keep Amate López’s water bottle cold. In April, the only items he had available to sell were rice, sugar and split chickpeas.
Cuban teens turning 15, a landmark birthday in Latin America, used to receive cake and several cases of beer. Now they only get 3 kilograms of ground beef. The government recently opted to celebrate those turning 65 by awarding them sardines, a bar of soap and a package of toilet paper. But Amate López said he doesn’t have those items.
Havana resident Ana Enamorado, 68, said she only was able to buy split chickpeas and 2 pounds of sugar at her assigned bodega in April. A carton of 30 eggs costs roughly 3,000 pesos , 2 pounds of meat hash are nearly 900 pesos and 1 pound of cornmeal is roughly 200 pesos . Her lunches and dinners are a rotation of rice, seasoned ground meat and cornmeal, or sometimes nothing at all.
She recalled once upon a time being able to eat pork, lamb, fricassee, fried plantain slices and red beans and rice. Subsidizing people in need instead of goods Cuba imports up to 80% of the food it consumes, including goods offered at state stores that are increasingly unavailable given a lack of government resources.
“They just don’t have the money to do it anymore,” William LeoGrande, a professor at American University who has tracked Cuba for years, said about the government running out of funds. “Things come in an ad hoc way. ”The government has to stop printing money and balance its budget without drastically cutting social services, a challenge since the bulk of state funds is spent on health, education, social welfare and food imports, he said.
“Any major cuts in state spending are going to have a profound social impact, which is why they haven’t done it,” LeoGrande said, adding that the government’s investment in tourism is “way higher” than the demand for tourism, which In recent years, Cuba’s government has talked about subsidizing people in need instead of goods. That would free up money to import fuel, medicine and other items, LeoGrande said.
Cuban comedians have spoofed the ration book, creating a character named “Pánfilo” who sings a rhyming chorus in a recent video posted online: “Place the notebook in a cemetery, because it’s ready to be buried. ”On a recent sunny afternoon, Lázaro Cuesta, 56, stood in line to receive a daily allowance of two small bread rolls for him and his wife.
“Before it was 80 grams and cost 5 cents. Now it’s 40 grams and costs 75 cents,’' he said.
“And the quality is worse. ” Cuesta works in food preparation and earns 6,000 Cuban pesos a month. His wife, a retired nurse, receives 4,800 pesos in monthly pension. They also receive $200 a month from her brother and daughter who live abroad.
“If not for the remittances,” he said as he grabbed his neck with his right hand, “hang yourself. ” Roughly 60% of Cubans on the island receive remittances, but Rosa Rodríguez, 54, of Havana is not one of them.
“Everything is scarce here — everything — even that wretched bread they give us,” Rodríguez said. She earns 4,000 Cuban pesos a month, which she said isn’t a bad salary for Cuba, but “no matter how hard you work, it’s simply not enough. ” Rodríguez said the only product she obtained at her assigned bodega in April was a donation of 4 pounds of rice, while she struggles to buy other basic goods.
“If you buy beans, then you can’t buy sugar,” she said, noting that most of her salary is spent on a large carton of eggs. “If I retire, I die. ”
Cuba Government Compensation And Benefits Retail And Wholesale General News Latin America Central America International Trade Recessions And Depressions Ana Enamorado Business Jos Luis Amate Lpez World News Fidel Castro Subsidies Rosa Rodrguez Socialism World News
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