The Ministry of the Interior (MININT) assured this Wednesday that it is maintaining an offensive against structures dedicated to the illegal buying and selling of foreign currency in Cuba, with over 300 investigations underway and several operations in which hundreds of thousands of dollars, euros, Cuban pesos, vehicles, safes, bank cards, electronic equipment, and other related assets were seized.
According to information revealed in the official Canal Caribe, on the Island "organized illegal structures persist from abroad with support based in Cuba" that operate in the exchange and buying-selling of foreign currency, as well as in activities related to money laundering and tax evasion.
In the report, the chief prosecutor of the Department of Criminal Proceedings of the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Havana, Eudenia Sanmiguel Ramírez, and Lieutenant Colonel Gisnel Rivero Crespo, head of the Department for Combatting Economic Crimes of the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation of MININT, intervened.
According to the MININT official, one of the main lines of action for the agency is to obtain operational information, “penetrate” the criminal networks, identify the roles of their members, and proceed with their dismantling.
In that context, the official acknowledged that in the informal currency market in Cuba “millions of pesos are still in circulation, millions of dollars,” despite the measures adopted by the State.
The most substantial case presented corresponds, according to the official version, to a structure dedicated to the illegal trafficking of currency and the delivery of remittances that operated in two homes in Luyanó, Havana.
The MININT reported having seized during that operation 183,278 dollars, 15,560 euros, 1,500,900 Cuban pesos, two 2025 Kia Picanto cars, five safes, three money counting machines, 12 bank cards, three cell phones, a laptop, and documentation related to five other properties.
Another example presented by the authorities was that of a criminal organization that operated systematically in two houses in Plaza de la Revolución, with a third raid conducted at a residence in the Cerro municipality.
In that operation, the MININT reported the seizure of 17,210 dollars, 13,475 euros, 2,199,650 Cuban pesos, two electric motorcycles, two laptops connected to a video surveillance system, three cell phones, a money counting machine, and seven magnetic cards with balances that, according to the program, totaled over 300,000 pesos.
The individuals involved, according to the official account, confessed to their participation in the illegal currency trafficking.
"Million-dollar" accounts
The authorities also described a file related to a citizen with million-dollar bank transactions.
According to the regime's version, he had accounts with credits exceeding 36 million Cuban pesos and debits of more than 35 million.
The MININT states that this person was part of a network dedicated to the illegal trafficking of currency, which operated from a residence in El Vedado and also involved another individual in Mariel, Artemisa.
Both, according to the program, acknowledged that they were involved in cash dollar exchange, trading with banked currencies, operations with MLC and CUP, as well as transactions with cryptocurrencies.
In that case, the main individual involved was also described as a partner of a small and medium-sized enterprise based in Artemisa since 2022 and re-registered as a self-employed worker since October 2025 to provide beverage services.
The program indicates that it had already been subject to a tax control action and that a fine of 1,637,086 pesos was imposed for tax violations.
The official explanation is not limited to operations alone. The MININT asserts that the illegal currency market involves financiers based abroad, money remitters, traffickers operating in both physical and virtual spaces, individuals engaged in cross-border cash extraction, and operators of simulated international top-ups.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Rivero Crespo, those financiers impose interest rates ranging from 6% to 12% on private actors and contribute to speculation, cost distortion, and the devaluation of the national currency.
The official discourse attributes part of the economic context to the "unprecedented policy of economic, financial, and energy suffocation" by the United States and acknowledges that the official exchange market, updated on December 17, 2025, by the Central Bank of Cuba, still does not function as needed for the country's economy.
From there, the report presents the informal currency market as one of the criminal hotspots that has the greatest impact on internal financial flows.
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