A Cuban woman showcased the famous Chinese market in Holguín in a video and summarized the everyday struggle of many families in one sentence: in Cuba, there may be food in some markets, but there isn't always money to buy it.
The content creator, identified on social media as SoyRosi Vlogs, toured an area of the Lenin neighborhood where tubers, rice, beans, eggs, oil, meat, and chicken, among other products, are sold.
"In Cuba, there is food, but at what price?" he said at the start of the video, in which he showed cartons of eggs priced between 3,000 and 3,100 pesos, as well as 10-pound packages of chicken ranging from 5,000 to 5,300 pesos.
The Cuban explained that the place is popularly known as "the Chinese market," although in reality it is a street that has become a regular spot for selling food.
"This is like Calle 13, but for food," he commented, while showcasing various stalls with basic products. However, he clarified that the presence of food does not mean it is accessible to everyone.
"The problem is not whether there is or isn't, the problem is whether it can be bought," he asserted.
His reflection addressed one of the main concerns of Cubans: the gap between food prices and salaries or pensions. “Perhaps I can buy today, but how many people cannot?” he asked.
The post generated hundreds of comments from users who agreed that food is available, but at prices that are impossible for retirees, state workers, and families without remittances.
"With my checkbook, I can buy myself a carton of eggs each month," lamented a commentator. Another wrote: "There is food, but we retirees earn three thousand pesos and everything is expensive."
Several users also criticized that basic products such as eggs, chicken, rice, or oil are sold at prices that exceed the purchasing power of most people. “There is food, but the prices are extremely high,” summarized one person.
Others pointed out that the visible abundance in certain markets does not reflect a real improvement, but rather the impossibility of purchasing. "If it's there and we can't buy it, it's as if it weren't," commented one user. Along the same lines, another internet user stated, "One thing is availability and another is accessibility."
There were also those who asked the creator to show the prices more slowly so that the magnitude of the problem could be better appreciated, while others expressed gratitude for revealing "the truth about Cuba" without filters.
The video brings to light an increasingly visible contradiction on the island: markets filled with products, yet households lacking sufficient money to purchase them. For many Cubans, eating has ceased to be a basic routine and has turned into a daily sacrifice.
The official average salary is around 6,930 CUP per month, but a weekly purchase of basic food items exceeds 25,000 CUP, according to testimonies from Cubans on social media.
The crisis has structural roots in six decades of a failed economic model. Cuba imports between 70% and 80% of its food and locally produces only 11% of the rice it consumes.
The 80% of Cubans believe the current situation is worse than the Special Period of the 1990s, according to the Food Monitor Program.
The Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa acknowledged in February 2025 that it is impossible to live on 6,000 CUP due to high prices.
"Eating and living with the bare minimum should not be a daily sacrifice," concluded SoyRosi Vlogs in her video. "Is there food or isn't there? But at what price?"
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