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The new pension increase announced by the Cuban regime, effective from September 2025, again clashes with the reality of the informal currency market, where the Cuban peso continues to lose value against the dollar, the euro, and the freely convertible currency (MLC).
The apparent improvement for retirees, who now receive a minimum of 4,000 CUP, becomes a symbolic figure when translated to the exchange rate prevailing in the street.
With the dollar at 420 CUP, the euro at 477.5 CUP, and the MLC at 200 CUP, the 4,000 pesos pension barely amounts to 9.5 dollars or less than 9 euros on the black market. This means that, even after the adjustment, the minimum pension in Cuba does not cover what would be equivalent to a single day of basic expenses in most countries.
The measure, outlined in the Resolution 14/2025, establishes that those who were earning up to 2,472 CUP will now receive an increase of 1,528 CUP; and those who earned between 2,473 and 3,999 CUP will be directly elevated to 4,000. The aim, according to the official narrative, is to strengthen protection for the most vulnerable sectors; however, the real impact diminishes amid the currency crisis.
According to data provided in July by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, the measure will benefit 1,324,599 people, which represents 79% of retirees in the country. Among them, 82%, equivalent to 438,572 retirees, will see their minimum pension doubled, while the remaining 18% will experience increases until reaching 4,000 pesos.
Marrero himself acknowledged that this is a partial adjustment, as the government lacks the resources to undertake a comprehensive reform of the pension system.
A comparative analysis between the moment the measure was announced and the current situation reveals the extent of the loss. On July 16, when the government presented the increase, the dollar was trading at 385 CUP and the euro at 426 CUP, which meant that the minimum pension of 4,000 pesos was equivalent to 10.4 dollars or 9.4 euros in the informal market.
Two months later, with the dollar at 420 CUP and the euro at 477.5 CUP, that same pension is reduced to 9.5 dollars or 8.4 euros. In practical terms, retirees have seen almost a 10% decrease in their purchasing power even before receiving a single full payment with the new increase.
The disparity between pensions and currencies becomes even more apparent when compared to the cost of living on the island. According to the Cuban Citizen Audit Observatory (OCAC), at least 30,000 CUP per month is needed to ensure basic nutrition.
In other words, the new minimum pension barely covers one-seventh of that amount. A carton of eggs now exceeds 3,000 CUP, while essential products such as oil, powdered milk, or chicken are sold exclusively in dollars or MLC, currencies that the State does not distribute to the population through salaries or pensions.
The contrast is recognized even by the authorities themselves. The Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa recently admitted that “with an average salary of 6,000 CUP, one cannot live,” referring to the rampant inflation that erodes the purchasing power of most Cubans. In this context, the adjusted pensions fall far short of actual needs.
If the current depreciation rate continues, the situation will be even more serious by the end of the year. In the last two months, the dollar rose from 385 to 420 CUP (9%) and the euro from 426 to 477.5 CUP (12%). If this trend persists, the dollar would close December at around 455 CUP and the euro at approximately 530 CUP.
In that scenario, the minimum pension of 4,000 pesos would be equivalent to 8.8 dollars or 7.5 euros, meaning a cumulative loss of more than 15% of its real value in just five months.
Retirees are one of the groups hardest hit by the crisis. Without remittances from abroad, it becomes almost impossible to get by on what the social security provides. The announced increase may offer temporary relief, but its equivalence to less than 10 dollars a month reduces it to a mere band-aid in the midst of a storm.
The recent behavior of the informal foreign exchange market exacerbates the situation. In just ten days, the dollar gained 9 CUP, the euro rose by 17.5, and the MLC regained ground up to 200, confirming the fragility of the Cuban peso. Every increase in the exchange rates translates to a significant loss for retirees, whose pensions are nearly shrinking on a daily basis in real terms.
The result is a vicious cycle: inflation drives prices up, currencies soar, and salary or pension increases are neutralized within a matter of weeks.
Without a comprehensive policy to stabilize the currency and reduce access to basic goods, any nominal increase becomes an illusion that hardly changes the daily lives of millions of retired Cubans.
The mirage of "leaving no one behind"
The contrast between official announcements and the economic reality exposes the central contradiction of the Cuban regime. For 66 years, millions of workers have been forced to sustain the so-called "revolution" with meager wages and significant deprivations, under the promise of a common good that never arrived.
Today, those same people, after dedicating their working lives to a system that denied them the freedom to thrive, are left with pensions that are barely enough to survive.
The phrase "leaving no one behind" has turned into an empty slogan that tries to mask the inability to ensure a dignified life for those who need it most. While propaganda insists on presenting nominal increases as social achievements, the informal currency market and everyday inflation immediately contradict that narrative.
Every increase in pensions is quickly undermined within weeks by the rising costs of the dollar, the euro, and the MLC, reflecting an economic model that has abandoned efforts to stabilize its own currency.
The gap is even more shocking upon seeing how national resources are concentrated in conglomerates controlled by the military elite, while retirees must wait in endless lines to collect a pension that barely amounts to a few dollars.
The social policy that was once presented as the cornerstone of the system has been reduced to a propaganda mechanism, unable to compensate for the material and moral decline of the population.
In practice, retirees in Cuba are the most visible face of a structural failure: that of a State that demands sacrifices from them throughout their lives only to abandon them in their old age. The promise of equality has turned into a legacy of normalized poverty, and the principle of "leaving no one behind" reveals itself, once again, as a cruel irony.
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