A harrow loaded with chicken overturned this Monday in the town of Río Piedras, in the municipality of Guanabacoa, near the intersection of the Monumental and the Santa María del Rosario Highway.
The event, shared on social networks by the user identified as Radimir Galán, did not cause injuries, according to eyewitnesses, who also stated that the vehicle’s load was left intact.
The accident involved a truck of the brand Freightlinerwith registration B092299manufactured by Daimler Truck North America LLCwhich ended up flipped on its left side, partially blocking the road.
In the images shared on social networks, the large vehicle is seen in a curve on a narrow and poorly paved road, which suggests that excessive speed, added to the conditions of the road, could have been causes of the incident.
Several people and residents of the area approached the scene of the incident, some apparently collaborating with the driver to extract fuel from the truck’s tanks.
This incident occurs in a context in which imported chicken is a product in high demand in Cuba, where food shortages have caused long lines and irregular marketing of this product.
In recent years, several similar accidents have been reported, such as the overturning of a harrow loaded with chicken in Las Tunas in August 2021 and another more recent one in January 2024 in the same province.
Cuba annually imports thousands of tons of chicken from the United States, with almost 170 thousand tons shipped in the first months of 2024according to official data. According to the economist Pedro Monreal This number is “the approximate equivalent of 6,800 containers,” although “the figures in value and tons are lower than those of the same period in 2023.”
The high dependence on these imports, together with distribution problems, have generated scenes of desperation, such as the enormous queues recorded in different provinces to buy a pound of chicken.
On the other hand, informal trade has also taken advantage of the situation, with micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) selling boxes of chicken directly from containers on the streeta phenomenon that became common in cities like Havana, and that the Cuban regime stopped with the new rules approved in December for MSMEslimiting wholesale trade.
