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The new floating exchange rate announced by the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) has triggered a genuine avalanche of humor on social media. From Facebook to X (formerly Twitter), Cubans have found in memes the best way to express their disbelief, mockery, and weariness toward a measure that, far from instilling confidence, has been received as a copy of the informal market that the regime itself had tried to discredit.
The independent medium El Toque opened the day with a meme inspired by Star Wars, where Darth Vader (the BCC) reveals to Luke Skywalker (El Toque): “I am your father!”. The post, shared thousands of times, humorously sums up what many interpret as a surrender of the State in the face of the reality of the currency exchange market.
The page El Pelotazo also contributed its share of irony with several memes. In one of them, the character Mr. Bean is shown cheating on a test with the text “Right click > Copy > Paste,” clearly alluding to the fact that the Central Bank simply replicated the rates previously published by El Toque.
In another instance, he ridicules the official spokesperson Humberto López for having attacked the independent media shortly before the BCC adopted practically the same rate.
The journalist Edmundo Dantés Junior mocked the monetary chaos with his publication “2026: Year of the Five Rates in Revolution,” in which he lists the rates currently coexisting in the Cuban economy: 1x24, 1x120, the floating rate, the rate from El Toque, and the MLC rate. His comment went viral among internet users who see this proliferation of exchange rates as a metaphor for the national economic disorder.
From the most political satire, the group Memes Abeja Cuba mocked the official spokespersons who accused El Toque of "inducing inflation." In their image, three clowns represent those media "clarias," with text that ironically celebrates that "the dictatorship hit them in the face again."
In X, the user Ñango Leyva transformed the news into satirical art with an illustration depicting a toilet floating on the sea, accompanied by the message “You now have a floating rate #CubaEstadoFallido #SOSCuba.” The image, shared dozens of times, symbolizes what many Cubans feel: that the country is sinking while the government insists it is “floating.”
The general distrust was also reflected in the account Habanero Memes, which posted a viral image of Susely Morfa with the phrase: “Who is going to rely on the floating rate that the bank is going to publish?” and the emphatic response: “Nobody!”.
Humor has served as a release valve in response to the confusion generated by the measure. Even in official spaces, comments reflect the general tone: “So much criticism of Toque to end up the same,” “They took away the name, not the rate,” or “Now we really have a floating rate, because everything floats except for the salary.”
Since this December 18, the country operates with three exchange rate segments: one at 1x24 for state services, another at 1x120 for entities with foreign income, and a third "floating" rate for the private sector and individuals, which started at 410 CUP per dollar and 481.42 CUP per euro. The figures are practically identical to those in the informal market, where the dollar remains around 440 CUP.
The Central Bank assures that the rate will float according to supply and demand and will be published daily, but the limitations on access to foreign currency and the lack of institutional credibility lead many to see it as a temporary and cosmetic move. In the meantime, the Cuban people continue to do what they do best: laugh at their tragedy. Because, in the end, laughter remains the only strong currency of the country.
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