A woman from Cienfuegos went to an agricultural fair with 2,000 pesos in her pocket and returned having spent more than planned, but without being able to bring any meat home.
María Carla Riverón decided to document her visit to the Calzada fair, one of the busiest in the city, to showcase what can be purchased today in Cuba with a limited budget. The outcome, shared on Facebook, turned out to be another raw portrayal of everyday life on the island.
"Let's see what we can buy with two thousand Cuban pesos," she says at the beginning of the video. But her budget fell short: she ended up spending around 2,500 CUP, not including essential products like meat.
During the trip, the young woman detailed the prices. She spent 700 pesos on tomatoes after buying seven pounds at 100 CUP each. The plantain, essential to her diet, cost her almost 500 pesos at 150 per pound. She also added onions, sweet potatoes, vinegar—600 pesos—and other basic products.
The most telling piece of information came when he showed the price of steak: 1,000 pesos per pound. "With a basic salary, you can only buy three," he remarked, clearly indicating why meat was left out of his shopping list.
"In Cuba, there is indeed fruit and meat; it's just that there is no money," he summarized in one of the most shared moments of the video.
The young woman herself explained that she chose that fair because, in her experience, it has lower prices than others in the area due to the larger number of vendors. Even so, the money was not enough.
His testimony is not an isolated case. In recent weeks, several Cubans have documented similar situations on social media, highlighting the growing gap between market prices and actual purchasing power.
Currently, the average monthly salary on the island is around 6,800 pesos, while various analyses estimate that survival requires more than 50,000 CUP per month. In this context, a simple visit to the market can consume a significant portion—or even the entirety—of the monthly income.
The scene repeats itself across the country: markets filled with products, but inaccessible to the majority. A paradox that encapsulates the current crisis and, as in the case of María Carla, forces individuals to choose between what they need and what they can actually afford.
At the end of the video, he posed a question that resonates with thousands of Cubans: "Let me know in the comments how prices are in your town." An invitation that, more than just curiosity, reflects a shared reality across the island.
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