The Americas | Welcome to Queueba

With shop shelves bare, Cuba mulls economic reforms

The government hints it may scrap its dotty dual-currency system

LONG QUEUES and empty shelves are old news in Cuba. Recently, though, the queues have become longer and the shelves emptier. Food is scarcer than it has been since the collapse in 1991 of the Soviet Union, which supported the island’s communist regime. Now shoppers queue twice: once for a number that gives them a time slot (often on the next day). They line up again to enter the store.

This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Welcome to Queueba”

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