A Cuban woman shared on TikTok what she was able to buy for Mother's Day with 11,300 Cuban pesos: two rolls of toilet paper, two jars of cream, and a set of shampoo and conditioner —a maximum of five basic hygiene items as the biggest gift possible for the occasion.
The creator, identified as Yanela sin Filtro in her video from last Wednesday, began by showing 10,000 pesos in hundred peso bills —a total of one hundred bills— with the intention of documenting what could be bought with that amount to give as gifts on Sunday.
In the end, the amount was not enough. "It wasn't with ten thousand pesos; I had to add on thirteen hundred more. It all came to eleven thousand three hundred pesos: two rolls of toilet paper, two jars of cream, the shampoo set, and the shampoo separately. Five little things," he explained in the video.
The 11,300 pesos spent is equivalent to more than 1.6 average monthly salaries in Cuba. According to data from the National Office of Statistics and Information, the average monthly salary in Cuba in 2025 was 6,930 pesos, which is barely between 13 and 15 dollars at the informal exchange rate.
The minimum wage is 2,100 pesos per month—just over five dollars—and the minimum pension is around 3,727 pesos. Independent economists estimate that the minimum cost of living exceeds 50,000 pesos per month per person, which is about seven times the average state salary.
In this context, shampoo, cream, and toilet paper have become luxury items. A mini grocery purchase of basic food items in May cost 3,875 pesos, which is 56% of the average monthly salary. A tube of toothpaste was sold for over 1,000 pesos in a Havana mipyme in April.
Yanela ended the video with resignation: "Well, there's no other choice, it has to be done, and I still haven't finished."
The state-organized fairs during this time also faced criticism. The fair "Art for Mom" in Sancti Spíritus was dubbed on social media as "art for the rich moms", with users pointing out that "if you buy a gift, you can't eat." In Camagüey, the food fair was criticized for its unaffordable prices and scarcity, with a recurring comment on social media: "only staple foods for the people, meat for the bosses."
Meanwhile, CIMEX promoted motorcycles for Mother's Day starting from $1,950 in Cienfuegos — over 130 times the average monthly salary.
The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights estimates that 89% of the Cuban population lives in extreme poverty and that 79% of those over 70 cannot have three daily meals. The story of Martha, a 77-year-old grandmother from Santiago who walks almost 15 kilometers in the early morning pushing a cart to sell okra, went viral on Mother's Day with over 53,000 views on Facebook.
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