The sale by ETECSA of cell phones in Freely Convertible Currency (MLC), for now at least in Havana, has generated deep indignation among many Cubans.
“Why do you put the products you sell in MLC when the Cuban does not charge in that currency and you do not have other options in the currency that we really charge even if the salary does not reach us to buy it?” Asked a user on Twitter, and it is, of course, the key question that dozens of Cubans repeat, in different tones right now.
In the last hours, comments of dissatisfaction with the application of the measure that arrived have multiplied in social networks, in addition, without even a prior official announcement.
“The point is, when was it made public that @ETECSA_Cuba would begin to provide services in USD or MLC?” Asked an Internet user on Twitter.
The qualifier of “Lack of respect for the people” It is one of the most abundant in comments, in which there are others such as “opportunists”, “cheeky” or even others with a thicker tone.
“For which people do you work, taking advantage of the high demand and not having competition, have you started selling poor quality cell phones at high prices in MLC? When are you going to work for the ordinary Cuban?” Asked another. user of the aforementioned social network, “they are abusing without compassion,” he sentenced.
“Welcome to the era of dollarization in Cuba. You know, you have to start printing dollars or counterfeiting them because where are you going to get them from? Be careful with the dollars that you have hidden under the mattress because they are going to confiscate them in a certain way. or another ”, declared a Cuban on Facebook commenting on the news.
“These are the things that I cannot agree with,” said a Cuban who wonders the same thing as thousands of Cubans today: “Who in this country receives a salary in $$? How many Cubans were imprisoned for carrying dollars at that time when it was prohibited …? And now this from ETECSA ??? ¿How far and until when? If it even seems like a joke”, He sentenced.
“Cubita la bella what they have made of you, a place without hope, without prosperity, it is abusive and insulting, I would like to know if in that country it is not paid in dollars where the unhappy are going to get them from!” Said another person.
Nor has the humorous tone of those who invite the island to be invaded with false bills, “I hope they will make a landing of pure fake tickets by quantity so that they run out of merchandise and no dollars, HP”, commented a resident outside the country ..
“What lack of respect, how do you think you can buy a mobile phone if it is not the currency you receive in exchange for your hours of work and sacrifice? Are they going to supply the cadecas so that they can at least make the currency exchange, even if it involves taxes, I can’t deal with this anymore, really, ”concluded another of the outraged Cubans.
“Well then, those of us who do not have American dollars have the right to buy cell phones or virtual stores until when will they be humiliating the Cuban people with American dollars, which is disrespectful as the only thing that Cuba will pay in American dollars because With what a worker earns a month, he is not even enough to buy toilet paper, ”declared a Cuban, addressing the omnipresent issue in Cuba of low wages and sales in a currency that most of the population does not receive.
Although the company has not released an official announcement in this regard, nor has any state media published the news, CiberCuba was able to confirm that since last Monday the communications monopoly in the country began to sell cell phones in dollars at least in two ETECSA offices in Havana, one in Playa and the other in Plaza de la Revolución.
Cell phones in MLC are for sale at the Nautico business office, in the Playa municipality, and at the office located at 17 y A, in Vedado.
ETECSA sells an Alcatel 5033M, for a price of 65.00 USD and a three-month warranty, and an Alcatel1 5024A for 165.00 USD with the same warranty period.
In this way, the Cuban government has already added Etecsa to the list of stores and establishments in the country that are offering their products in dollars, as happened first with electrical appliance stores and then with food and cleaning products.
It was even recently known that the new version of the Cuban online payment application, Transfermóvil, an ETECSA app, will allow you to request the cards in freely convertible currency (MLC) at Banco Metropolitano (Banmet). These cards are the ones that can be bought in the new stores in Cuba.
These measures have been taken by the government of Havana in the midst of the economic crisis in which the country is plunged, and which has become more palpable since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
There are more and more establishments in MLC, to which an ephemeral part of the population can access, the government from the beginning has insisted on saying that It is not about a dollarization of its economy.
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