Health Alert Causes Big Losses For The Self-Employed

Health Alert Causes Big Losses For The Self-Employed / 14ymedio,
Fernando Donate Ochoa
Posted on August 19, 2015

14ymedio, FernandoDonate Ochoa, Holguin, 18 August 2015 — The cholera
outbreak affecting Holguin has gone way beyond the health problem and
become a drag on economic activity.

The health authorities in the province have issued a set of transitional
measures that restrict the manufacture and sale of food and drinks in
eating establishments. The measures, designed to protect public health,
are affecting public and private entities by the absence of a plan to
cushion the effects on the economy.

The new regulation only authorizes the sale of canned and industrially
packaged liquids. Beer and soda in bulk, for its part, will be offered
exclusively in the eating establishments specifically authorized to do
so and will be dispensed in unused disposable cups or glass containers.

Among the food products restricted are cold salads, appetizers with
homemade mayonnaise and foods with sauces or dressings. Also suspended
is the sale of raw seafood and shellfish such as oysters.

"They closed everything, but we do not receive financial compensation
from the government. Nor does the Insurance Company include a policy to
protect us in these cases," protests Maximo Tejedor Avila, a 65-year-old
entrepreneur who has a stand in La Condonga, an area near the Calixto
Garcia stadium. The self-employed man laments the great loses his
business wlll suffer this year, with the suspension of the carnivals and
the regulation of good sales.

La Candonga, with thirty outlets, is an open space for privately run
food stands, open for over two decades and the most frequented by
Holguin residents.

Now, uncertainty has taken over the place. Romario Céspedes Ferrer, one
of the first of the self-employed who started their sales in that area,
says it is the first time "they have indefinitely closed these food
businesses."

For now, the only instrument the self-employed have to remedy the
situation, is the application of a temporary suspension of
their permits, a mechanism that would allow them to at least avoid
paying taxes as long as they cannot exercise their activity. Many food
workers have initiated the request, which is in process, as they still
do not know what will be the resolution of authorities. Others,
meanwhile, have continued selling some products in secret, with the aim
of reducing their losses.

A similar situation faces self-employed people involved in food services
working outside the Dagoberto Sanfield Intercity Bus Terminal in the
city of Holguin. The whole city is under strict observation by a body of
inspectors, who supervise volunteers workers who inspect homes and
soldiers who have joined the fight against dengue fever and cholera.

Source: Health Alert Causes Big Losses For The Self-Employed / 14ymedio,
Fernando Donate Ochoa | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/health-alert-causes-big-losses-for-the-self-employed-14ymedio-fernando-donate-ochoa/