14ymedio, Havana, February 10, 2024 — Black and white images, a voice-over reminiscent of a crime drama and suspenseful music. Cuban Television spared no effort reporting, in the most dramatic way possible, the alleged theft of 133 tons of frozen chicken from the Havana Food Marketing Company. According to police, thirty defendants – eleven of them in preventive detention – are linked to the incident.
Some 1,660 boxes of chicken from the American producer Tyson were discovered missing by the company’s auditing department, setting off alarm bells among managers, the report stated. Rigoberto Mustelier, the company’s director, discovered that 26 tons were missing and immediately, he claims, ordered an inventory and called the police.
Investigators did their own calculations to determine how much was missing, looking at footage from warehouse security cameras and checking temperature fluctuations in the coolers. They informed Mustelier that the shortfall was much greater, 133 tons to be exact, according to Lieutenant Olga Panque, who also appeared on television.
The night of the robbery — Cuban Television did not specify exactly when it took place — several “suspicious vehicles” were seen circling the perimeter of the warehouse
“It could be the basic basket of a medium-sized province,” commented Mustelier, and the report then noted that, if the public does not have chicken in the coming days, it knows whom to blame. “Shift bosses, technical support staff and unemployed people outside the company. Employees were involved,” said Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Galera, claiming the culprits removed official labels and replaced them with “others that