A Cuban Poet's Plea: "Let It Come, Though Hard, Crumbled, or Stale"

A poet and storyteller from Granma province has transformed Cuba's bread crisis into a poignant piece of art. Jorge Adrián Betancourt Quintana, known online as Sonny Carrazana Espinosa, shared a Facebook reel lasting just over a minute, in which he recites a poem reflecting on the disappearance of bread from Cuban daily life. The work combines dark humor, genuine despair, and political irony.

The Poetic Bread Crisis

The poem opens with a sentiment that captures the plight of many Cubans: "Bread is gone, and I weep / like a child, my soul laments / knowing that only in Mipyme / is there bread, but priced like gold." The "Mipyme"—a private store—emerges as the sole provider of bread, albeit at a prohibitive cost for most people.

The irony sharpens as Betancourt sarcastically blames the embargo for even canceling the emergency plan: "The blockade is so harmful / it canceled our contract / for sweet potato flour / to make alternative bread." Through exaggerated satire, the poet cuts deep into reality, using humor as his tool, a hallmark of the Cuban décima espinela tradition.

Existential Dependence on Bread

The poem continues with a portrayal of near-existential reliance on bread. "Without bread, I cannot live / I find myself lost, without a way / that little bread is my life / it’s become my all-in-one: / because it’s my breakfast, my lunch, / it’s my meal," recites the poet, starkly illustrating what the rationed bread means to those with few alternatives.

The poem closes with a dreamlike image mingling tenderness and resignation: "I dream that one early morning, / while I sleep in my loft, / wrapped in cellophane, / a hard-crusted bread, / descends from the heights / and in my mouth: bread!"

The Stark Reality Behind the Words

Cuba requires approximately 20,000 tons of wheat flour monthly to ensure the rationed family bread, according to official figures. In June 2026, the Minister of the Food Industry, Alberto López Díaz, acknowledged severe difficulties in receiving contracted shipments, even noting that a 5,000-ton flour shipment was withdrawn from a ship before departing.

This crisis is rooted in structural issues. Back in February 2024, authorities reported that the Cienfuegos mill, then the only operational one in the country, was producing about 250 tons of flour daily, against a demand for 700 tons for rationed bread and other social needs.

The official weight of rationed family bread was reduced from 80 to 60 grams on September 13, 2024, due to wheat flour scarcity. In 2026, reports indicated that in some provinces, portions shrank to as little as 40 grams, with poor quality.

The food crisis is further highlighted by the Food Monitor Program’s findings: their 2025 National Food Security Survey revealed that 94.9% of respondents had lost some degree of access to purchasing food over the past year.

The Poet's Resonating Message

In this context, comments on the reel show laughter and tears intertwining. Many thanked Betancourt for capturing their feelings in verse when facing empty bakeries each morning, while others criticized resellers for hoarding bread while mothers and the elderly wait under the sun—a reality the poem leaves unspoken but resonates through every line.

Betancourt Quintana is no novice; he's a celebrated poet in Cuban written décima tradition, winning accolades such as the Célida Cortina Award from the National Ala Décima Contest and the Ibero-American Cucalambé Award, the highest honor for this poetic form on the island. His work weaves the classical décima structure with social and existential themes, making the viral reel a natural progression of his career.

As he succinctly puts it, with the resignation of one who no longer hopes for miracles yet continues to dream: "I dream of its arrival / by sea, by land, or flying, / I dream and will keep dreaming, / because dreaming costs nothing."