By Safie M. Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a><\/p>\nHAVANA TIMES \u2013 In Cuba, inflation isn\u2019t an abstract concept from an economics textbook. It\u2019s a corrosive force that has become the main topic of family conversations and that empties pantries. The average salary hovers around 4,000 Cuban pesos (CUP). ($10 USD) A few years ago, that was enough to get by. Today, it\u2019s a cruel joke.<\/p>\n
A liter of oil can cost 1,000 CUP on the informal market. A chicken, 3,500 CUP, and a simple carton of 30 eggs, another 3,500. Doing the math is a daily exercise in terror: a month\u2019s wages aren\u2019t enough to fill the fridge, not even once a month. The ration book \u2014 once a symbol of equality in lean times \u2014 is now a catalog of nostalgia. It offers a tiny portion of the basics, at subsidized prices, but even that\u2019s insufficient to sustain the fiction of a decent diet.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, people have developed a sixth sense for spotting a product that\u2019s \u201cjust come off the boat\u201d (meaning, sent from abroad). The whisper travels through the streets and neighborhoods: \u201cThere\u2019s chicken on the corner,\u201d \u201cSoap arrived, hurry before it runs out.\u201d And then, the line \u2014 that national pastime \u2014 forms almost reflexively, an act of survival. Inflation has broken the value of work. What\u2019s the point of being a doctor, an engineer, or a teacher if your salary is worthless? Professional dignity has been devalued along with the currency.<\/p>\n
Facing the collapse of the peso\u2019s value, the government \u2014 in a move both pragmatic and traumatic \u2014 opened the door to dollarization. The Tiendas de Recuperaci\u00f3n de Divisas (TRD) and later the magnetic dollar MLC stores became the new temples where only those with hard currency (dollars or euros) can buy. Dollars and euros now coexist in a parallel country: food, appliances, medicine, spare parts, and more \u2014 a world of relative abundance but forbidden to most.<\/p>\n
Cuba has split in two: the national peso economy and the dollar economy. Those who receive remittances from abroad, work in tourism, or run private businesses serving foreigners live in an economy connected to the world. Their reality is stressful, yes, but they have access to goods. They can buy chicken, powdered milk, shoes, and other basic items and services. Their anxiety is keeping the flow of hard currency alive.<\/p>\n
Ordinary Cubans \u2014 those who have only the national currency, the vast majority \u2014 state employees, retirees, those without family abroad \u2014 inhabit a space between scarcity and desperate inventiveness. Their lives are a constant calculation, a daily hustle that\u2019s no longer ingenuity but sheer struggle for survival. They see the products in the dollar stores through the glass, like someone gazing at an unreachable luxury display \u2014 though it\u2019s only the essentials for living.<\/p>\n
Without a doubt, a new social stratification has emerged, even if some deny it for political convenience or out of nostalgia for the revolutionary past. The division exists \u2014 it\u2019s clear and tangible. And it\u2019s no longer ideological, but explicitly monetary. Merit, education, or political loyalty have been replaced by the simple possession of foreign currency. A new privileged class has arisen \u2014 not for its revolutionary lineage, but for its access to dollars.<\/p>\n
The consequences are immediate: the loss of professionals and the devaluation of knowledge. Cubans\u2019 reflections revolve around dilemmas like this: Why stay in a classroom earning 5,000 CUP (12 USD) a month if I can drive a taxi for tourists and make that much or more in a day? The labor force is shifting massively toward any activity that generates hard currency, abandoning essential professions. Knowledge has become a low-value commodity in the domestic market.<\/p>\n
Solidarity \u2014 once a pillar of revolutionary discourse \u2014 is crumbling under the pressure of need. The family has become the only safety net. Those without someone abroad to send remittances sink. Everyone for themselves has become the country\u2019s unspoken code of ethics.<\/p>\n
An entire generation of young Cubans knows only precariousness. Their future isn\u2019t a life plan but a daily riddle to solve. Leaving the country \u2014 whether via legal or through dangerous routes \u2014 appears to be the only viable escape.<\/p>\n
Cuba lives a heartbreaking paradox. On one hand, the State maintains a discourse of sovereignty and resistance against the \u201cempire.\u201d On the other, it has allowed the empire\u2019s own currency to become the backbone of its domestic economy, creating an even deeper dependence.<\/p>\n
This unplanned dollarization is a symptom of a broken model \u2014 a tacit admission that the national economy, as designed, has collapsed. But this \u201csolution\u201d is generating social wounds that may be as deep as the economic crisis itself. A country of first- and second-class citizens is emerging, where access to food and medicine depends on family geography and luck.<\/p>\n
Read more from the diary of Safie M. Gonzalez here on Havana Times.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Safie M. Gonz\u00e1lez HAVANA TIMES \u2013 In Cuba, inflation isn\u2019t an abstract concept from an economics textbook.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-271384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-11-06-at-19.01.39_aba567f2-450x600.jpg\")
<\/p>\n