"No Ike"

Produce markets remain bare after hurricanes;
price gouging by private sellers rampant.

First came Gustav.

Then came Ike.

Now Cuba is experiencing "No Ike".

As in "No Ike Comida"--a tragicomic play on the words "no hay", or "there is none", as in "there is no food".

In the wake of two hurricanes that flattened crops and ruined recent agricultural yields, produce markets are mostly empty.

International relief donations have been routed to the areas most severely struck by the violent weather systems, leaving Havana--which escaped direct contact from the storms--suffering shortages of food that is normally trucked in from the surrounding rural municipalities.

State run markets have set prices, but checks do not always exist to curb opportunism. Scarcity has lead to price gouging, as its a seller's market. Produce vendors are exploiting the law of supply and demand. The illegally steep food prices are found most often in the semi-private markets, which are reported to have relatively more goods in stock.

The attorney general has promised to be more vigilant and punitive against people who try to profit off of the situation of hardship.