Over the course of a year, the Cuban peso has experienced a historic devaluation, with the dollar rising from 182 to 330 CUP and the euro from 185 to 338 CUP, marking increases that exceed 80%. This devaluation has critically eroded the purchasing power of the Cuban population, negatively affecting both salaries and savings. Detailed information byCyberCuba, thanks to the daily change data offered byelTOQUE shows how exchange rate instability highlights an acute economic crisis in Cuba, accentuated by the absence of effective policies that mitigate the fall of the peso.
In 2023, the average salary in Cuba, approximately 4,500 CUP, was equivalent to about 24.73 dollars or 24.32 euros. However, by 2024, the same amount only represented 13.64 dollars or 13.31 euros, a significant loss that illustrates the devastating impact of inflation and monetary devaluation on Cuban workers.
For those with savings in the national currency, the impact of the devaluation is deeply significant. Considering the case of someone who, in 2023, had saved 182,000 Cuban pesos—then equivalent to 1,000 dollars according to the informal market exchange rate—the value of those savings in 2024, with the exchange rate rising to 330 CUP per dollar , would decrease drastically. Those same 182,000 CUP, when adjusted to the new rate, would represent only around 551.52 dollars, highlighting a direct loss in the value of savings in foreign currencies and demonstrating the drastic devaluation of the Cuban peso.
Even worse is the case of someone with 1 million Cuban pesos saved. This amount, which was equivalent to approximately $5,494.51 or 5,405.41 euros in 2023, was reduced to $3,030.30 or 2,958.58 euros in 2024, reflecting a considerable loss in its foreign currency value.
These examples, based on the exchange rates published in CiberCuba on26/03/2023 and the27/03/2024, highlight the urgent need for economic measures that stabilize the Cuban peso and protect the purchasing power of the population.
The critical economic situation and the accelerated devaluation of the national currency are obvious symptoms of the profound shortcomings of the centralized and planned economic model imposed by the Cuban regime. This system, devoid of economic freedoms and subject to anachronistic ideological postulates inherited from the time of the Soviet Union, has proven to be ineffective in responding to the basic needs of the population and adapting to the dynamics of the global market.
The government's insistence on clinging to these principles, to the detriment of economic openness and the inclusion of more flexible market practices, has led the Cuban people to a situation of misery and hopelessness. The lack of effective measures to stabilize the economy and improve the standard of living of citizens reflects not only an economic crisis, but also a crisis of leadership, where ideological dogmas are prioritized over the well-being and prosperity of the Cuban people. This approach has aggravated the exchange rate and economic crisis, leaving the population extremely vulnerable to inflation and loss of purchasing power, while viable and necessary solutions continue to be ignored by an administration clinging to a past that has repeatedly demonstrated, his failure.
The recent protests in Cuba have once again put the deep crisis that the island is going through in the international spotlight, a clamor for political and economic changes that resonates in the streets with an intensity that has not been seen since the historic demonstrations of July 2021. In March 2024, the cities of Santiago de Cuba, Bayamo, and Cárdenas, among others, became scenes of popular discontent that reflects the same demands for freedom and profound reforms that motivated the previous protests. International human rights organizations have denounced the repression exercised by the Cuban regime against protesters, urging the government to respect citizens' rights to free expression and peaceful protest.
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