14ymedio, Pedro Espinosa, Havana, 15 December 2023 — GD-Mart is the new Cuban Chinese business that practices the policy of apartheid, although Cubans have not been long in finding a way to take advantage of it. The official press announced with great fanfare last week the inauguration of the establishment, located on Infanta Street in Havana, which is actually a delivery point for the products that are purchased in the online store, a website that only accepts payments in hard currency from abroad.
The place, presided over by a huge poster hanging from the arcades, hosts a small sample of products, as announced by José Ernesto Madan Cambó, Cuban representative of the Chinese company Guangdong Stationery & Sporting Goods, Corp. and an ally of Tiendas del Caribe, of the Gaesa military consortium, in this new operation to collect foreign exchange.
“We have set up a product counter so that customers can see first-hand the offers we have online,” the manager explained to the official press in reference to the user, since the buyers, who live abroad, cannot see them.
A shelf houses a brief sample of flat-screen TVs of different sizes, fans, microwaves and other small appliances
A shelf houses a brief sample of flat-screen televisions of different sizes, fans, microwaves and other small appliances. Meanwhile, at ground level, one can see half a dozen electric vehicles of the Onebot brand, with prices ranging from $999 for an electric motorcycle to $2,600 for a tricycle that is already available Havana’s resale websites for $3,200 and more.
An employee explained to a 14ymedio reporter that the buyer abroad must name the Cuban beneficiary who will later pick up the product. “People have to come with a screenshot, an identity card and the guarantee.”
Although some curious people approached to nose around the store, the employee affirms that there is “movement” for the Christmas season. The products are already on the resale pages, uploaded just two days ago and advertised as new, but the conditions of p