Rationing in Nicaragua Rationing in Nicaragua In 1984, the FSLN announced rationing for 20 basic goods, including rice, sugar, milk, and toilet paper. At this time, the FSLN were fighting an expensive war against the Contra guerrillas who were funded by the Reagan Administration. The FSLN tried to stabilize the economy by focusing more on the production of export crops and less on the production of domestic crops. In doing this they also had to implement rationing so that the consumption of domestic crops would be lowered. The war made it very hard to sustain the economy and Nicaragua’s regular economy took a
Rationing in Cuba palm fronds. It was estimated in the early 2000s that the rationing covered between one third and one half of a family's needs. President Raul Castro moved to eliminate many products from the rationing system, including potatoes and peas. The "libreta" is not the only means of acquiring goods available to a Cuban citizen, as many of these and other products are freely available on the "mercado libre" (free market) and "mercado paralelo" (parallel market), and in the numerous supermarkets and stores that sell goods in convertible pesos. (Such stores were originally set up taking United States Dollars and were