The main spokesperson for the Cuban regime, the newspaper Granma, published an article this Wednesday threatening those who buy or sell foreign currency. It emphasized that this activity is not only a punishable offense but also results in the loss of the money involved, illustrating the severity with which the government seeks to control the economic transactions of its citizens.
In its digital edition, the newspaper criticized those who exchange national currency for foreign currency, arguing that this "affects the country's economic system." It also stated that any transaction involving the sale, transfer, conveyance, or acquisition of foreign currency "is illegal and constitutes a crime."
According to Granma, the public should be aware that there is no "informal market," but rather a crime that "makes use of social media networks to offer, buy, sell, and exchange national currencies and foreign currencies."
In this regard, he blamed the platform.The Touchdescribing it as "an indicator of the illegal market" and noting thatTheir strategy is to "affect the economy, create a negative impact on the country's monetary scale, and worsen the living conditions of the Cuban people."It seems that you haven't provided the text you want translated. Please share the text, and I'll be happy to help!unaware of all the aspects of the worsening economic crisis in Cubaas well as its main responsible party, the government itself.
The Granma article recalled the entire regulatory legal framework that threatened citizens, urging them not to continue the buying and selling of currency.
He mentioned items a) and c) of Article 11 of Decree-Law No. 361, dated September 14, 2018, which states that the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) proposes "monetary, financial, credit, and exchange policies, coordinating their designs and scopes with the objectives of fiscal policy."
The Bank also has the responsibility, according to Resolution No. 177, dated November 26, 2020, to establish “the exchange rate of the Cuban peso against foreign currencies.”
He emphasized that Decree-Law No. 362, dated September 15, 2018, in its Article 15, states that currency exchange houses “are the Cuban financial institutions that conduct currency exchange operations and the buying and selling of foreign coins and banknotes, as well as conversion and reconversion.”
The Granma article also emphasized that, in Cuba, Law No. 151, dated May 15, 2022, the current Penal Code, in clauses e) and g) of its article 315.1, "provides that the actions of selling or, by any means, transferring, transmitting, or acquiring foreign currency are considered a crime."
"These actions are punishable by imprisonment for two to five years, or a fine ranging from five hundred to a thousand units, or both," he recalled.
Finally, it is important to note that individuals who take the risk of engaging in purchases within this illegal market "expose themselves to being charged with a counterfeiting offense - Article 330.1 d), of Law No. 151 of 2022 - which occurs when the currency they have been sold or exchanged is counterfeit, and the person receiving it puts it into circulation."
In July, the Cuban police dismantled a multimillion-dollar scam network involved in the illegal exchange of currencies in the city of Santa Clara, in Villa Clara, and arrested the four women who were allegedly part of it.
From late 2023 until their arrest, the detainees carried out over 15 scam operations, with each amounting to between 800,000 and more than 1,000,000 Cuban pesos, as reported to the station CMHW by Lieutenant Colonel Héctor de la Fe Freire, head of the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) in the central Cuban city.
In February, two Cubans were arrested for their involvement in several cases of fraud related to the illegal sale of foreign currency, also in Santa Clara.
According to a post on Facebook by the official account Fuerza del Pueblo, a couple was recently scammed after connecting on social media with individuals who claimed to be involved in the buying and selling of dollars.
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