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The organization Food Monitor Program (FMP) reported this Thursday the establishment of a "market of precariousness" in Cuba, where online stores offer power generators for up to 800 dollars and gas canisters for 30 dollars with home delivery, while millions of Cuban households endure up to 22 hours of blackouts daily and have gone more than 12 months without receiving liquefied gas regularly.
The most compelling piece of evidence from the report is the price of an Ecoflow portable battery: up to 829 dollars, which is equivalent to 205 minimum salaries in Cuba at the informal exchange rate, since the minimum wage on the island is 2,100 pesos per month, just four or five dollars.
The organization titled its infographic "The Market of Precarity: Energy Only for Those Who Have Dollars" and warned that "while millions of Cubans face blackouts of up to 20 hours, access to energy becomes a privilege traded in foreign currency that is unattainable for the majority."
Online stores are advertising Ecoflow batteries starting at $829.64 with immediate delivery, a six-month warranty, and compatibility with solar panels, while liquefied gas canisters are also sold on digital platforms for $30 each, a price equivalent to six minimum wages.
For those who cannot afford those solutions —the vast majority— the alternatives are much more dangerous.
According to the Food Survey by FMP, conducted with 2,513 valid responses across the 16 provinces between May and July 2025, the two most commonly employed strategies by Cubans to cope with electricity shortages are the use of toxic fuels and cooking at unexpected times, taking advantage of the few hours when the electrical system is operational.
The numbers from this survey illustrate the extent of the damage: 80% of respondents reported that power outages prevented them from cooking, 47.59% lost food due to the outages, and one in three households had at least one member who went to bed hungry in the past month.
The energy crisis has structural roots that the regime has neither been able nor willing to resolve.
The national electrical system has accumulated a generation deficit exceeding 2,000 MW and has experienced four total collapses since October 2024.
The shortage of liquefied gas worsened that same month, and in January 2026, the tanker Emilia returned to Cuba empty due to the state's inability to make payment.
In February 2026, the government implemented an energy contingency plan that reduced the allocation of diesel for the agricultural sector by 60%, while the crisis slowed the unloading of bulk carriers by 50% due to a lack of energy in silos and conveyor belts. Cuba imports over 80% of its food.
The average Cuban salary in 2025 was 6,930 pesos per month, approximately 13 dollars at the informal exchange rate, according to the National Office of Statistics and Information.
The FMP concluded its report with a direct characterization of the problem: "The food crisis is essentially unequal, rooted in state abandonment, in clientelistic contracts with the ruling class, and in a systematic violation of basic rights."
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