Soup Kitchen Local Initiative In Santiago de Cuba Threatened With Closure by Regime Officials
The regime in Cuba follows a systematic policy of aggressive harassment and persecution of independent local civil society humanitarian initiatives intended to relief poverty and social conflicts.
The example below is evidence of how the regime curtails on the rights of citizens to create humanitarian initiatives to relief extreme poverty conditions in Cuba through local soup kitchen initiatives. One the one hand the regime devotes numerous resources in his propaganda around the world which blames social, economic misery on the embargo, and on the other it sets up its own internal embargo on independent social/civic initiatives byCuban citizens to relief poverty and misery in the island.
Capture screen of UNPACU’S Soup Kitchen initiative to relief hunger and poverty in Santiago de Cuba. Photos taken from a video published by the Patriotic Union of Cuba on January 21, 2021.
The report below is based on an article published by Diario de Cuba. Read full length article in Spanish here:
A popular local Soup Kitchen initiative ran by the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), a civil society organization in the city of Santiago de Cuba is threatened by the regime with closure. As part of their broader mission to advocate for democracy and human rights through peaceful struggle, UNPACU carries out an important social mission to provide free food and medications to vulnerable groups in the city (the elderly population, children and the poor) is about to end in large measure as a result of threats from regime officials.
Following the visit of two inspectors from the Ministry of Health [the regime] has followed two different strategies: One is to increase threats to hose who sell us food and fuel with fines, confiscation of their delivery transport (a horse and a cart) and even prison. This includes those selling us firewood, rice, meat and other products, said José Daniel Ferrer, UNPACU National Coordinator to Diario de Cuba.
The national coordinator of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, has also denounced how Communist Party officials and members of government organizations such as the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution and the Federation of Cuban Women have been pressuring people in the neighbourhood to evict us from our home in the Altamira area, which is also the main headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Cuba
Last Sunday (January 31, 2021) Ferrer reported on Twitter how “interments at the service of the regime” have been throwing stones at their home,” which is also the headquarters of the organization.
The high cost of food and medication in Cuba due to inflation has also been a contributing factor threatening this humanitarian mission.
“We are about to end our necessary work but this time for lack of resources to sustain it. The high prices and inflation rendered meaningless our very humble resources . We have been doing this humanitarian work with very limited contributions, which we highly appreciate, but they are insufficient due to high prices and the ever growing number of persons that come asking for our help, said the pro democracy leader.
Today what we can offer to destitute people is maize flour which is the same thing we will eat. We cannot afford to buy rice at 35 pesos a pound (roughly $1.40 US dollars). The UNPACU coordinator also said that
In addition there is a growing number of those also coming to get painkillers, antibiotics, medications to combat scabies and other meds that are scarce in the country.