Archive photo

A rural friend of mind, whose name I shall not give, one so confused and astonished by an article published in the newspaper Granma, from 21st Octoer 2011 where the marked fall in the stockbreeding population was pointed out. In our countryside it had fallen to 22,980 (as of August 2011) due to the illegal theft and sacrifice of animals and so my friend sent me the following piece.

The fat, the thin and the crazy

Look under your bed

there is a lost cow.

It isn’t fat or skinny

neither has it gone cuckoo

Look for it on your patio

or in you kitchen too

In the belly of your children

or the woman who loves you

That’s where it should be

Now that it’s fate

You raise it and care for it

and it goes to the state!

Granma also pointed out that a lack of control is the common factor.  It’s said that the personnel shortage, for checking the cattle in different provinces, favours disorder since there are a number of farmers who act freely and openly.

Wouldn’t it be better, as the farmer who sent me his poem says, if the need to feed every family this food took priority, that until 1959 was the most recurrent in our diets? According to CENCOP (Centre for Livestock Control) there are not enough bureaucrats to check the more than 26,000 properties in the country which are classed as livestock without land.  From there the high numbers of animals loose on the roads or grazing on unsuitable lands exposed to accidents, or provoking them, thereby inciting the crime.

Translated by: Sian Creely

November 17 2011