Cubans distrust banks even more after approval of the banking process

“If I had 20,000 pesos right now, I wouldn't put it in the bank,” said a young Cuban interviewed by the agency.AFP. Like him, the majority of Cubans look with suspicionthe banking process approved by the Cuban regime.

This was evident in a report made for the aforementioned media that interviewed several Cubans who, like the young man, expressed their doubts about a decision that aims to stop the loss of liquidity in the state bank vaults.only one allowed in Cuba.

“Either the ATM does not have money, or there is no connection, or they send instructions that you can only withdraw a certain amount of money that, in the times we are living in, 5 thousand pesos is simply nothing,” said a young woman.

“We are thinking like inhabitants of a big city and we do not realize that people who live in rural settlements do not have access to bank branches or ATMs,” said another young man, focusing onpopulation segments affected by the measure.

Statements like these are reported today by the majority of independent and international media with a presence in Cuba, despite the campaign by official media trying to reinforce the regime's message thatthe banking process “benefits the population”.

"If I had a lot of money, I wouldn't put it in the bank, because if I need it tomorrow and I go to the bank, they won't be able to give it to me, so I'll have to wait three days, or until the bank has enough money," he said. mechanical engineer Lisandra Pupo to the agencyAFP.

Cuba's obsolete banking system, with its network of ATMs decimated by the lack of spare parts, its failed data connection and its habitual lack of banknotes, does not inspire confidence in Cubans who, however, see inability and interests of their rulers the main danger to their savings.

Similar reservations were expressed by Cubans in mid-April, when the regime announced a measure by the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC).allowing US dollars to be deposited into bank accounts.

"When it is deposited, it is automatically converted into MLC [freely convertible currency], and the exchange is one to one. An MLC is a virtual dollar, it does not compensate. As far as I am concerned, at least, it would not occur to me to put dollars in a bank," a young man from Havana told the independent media14 September.

In mid-July,The Cuban regime began to prepare citizens “psychologically” before announcing the approval by decree of the “banking process.”

In that sense, the minister president of the BCC,Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, appeared on national television to report that, since 2020, Cubans had withdrawn more than 1,000 million pesos that have not been returned to the island's banking entities.

"All the cash that is being left outside the bank is conducive to not very orthodox activities," said Alonso Vázquez, explaining that "we cannot see fiscal policy separated from monetary and credit policy."

After approval by the government,several Cuban economists launched strong criticisms to the new measures aimed at banking on the island, which they considered "a financial corralito" and a "whip from the regime to the private sector."

The concern seems to extend to the “new economic actors” that have emerged thanks to the regime's survival strategy. This is how he let it be seenMiguel Diaz-Canel a deputy and owner of Mypime who warned him that "banking will bring the closure of businesses" and that "the proposed implementation lacks a comprehensive analysis of the problem and its solution."