Cuba faces food shortages after hurricanes

HAVANA-Cuban markets offered a dwindling selection of food and a growing expanse of empty shelves on Wednesday as food shortages the government warned about after hurricanes Gustav and Ike became increasingly evident.The shortages were exacerbated in the Cuban capital when shipments from food suppliers slowed in a conflict with the government over newly imposed price controls. In markets around Havana, customers found stretches of mostly vacant vendor stalls and limited supplies of food. A market in the Vedado district offered only papayas, a small stack of melons and a few bulbs of garlic. Vendors shrugged their shoulders and said nothing else had arrived for them to sell.A shopper named Yissel, who did not provide her full name, said the situation was the same in other markets and in her neighborhood grocery store."These are difficult times because everything is so affected, so damaged (by the hurricanes)," she said. "In Minimax (grocery store), it was like I'd never seen it. I saw almost nothing, not like other times."Due to problems in its state-run agriculture, Cuba has long struggled to meet its food needs and imports much of what it consumes.Hurricanes Gustav and Ike made the problem worse when they ripped through most of the country in a 10-day span starting August 30, causing $5 billion in damage and destroying 30 percent of Cuba's agriculture.
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As in the days of Noah....