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A Cuban reported on Facebook the chaos he experienced for two consecutive days while trying to buy basic food items at a MLC store, where the lack of connectivity at the payment terminals prevented him from completing any purchase and forced him to return home empty-handed on both occasions.
"Yesterday, I literally spent the whole morning trying to pay for some things I urgently needed for the house (food, to be exact). The issue is that in the end, I had to leave empty-handed because the connection never came. Only those who had cash in dollars could make purchases," wrote Dagner Vargas González in his post.
The next day, the Cuban returned to the store hoping to complete the purchase. The outcome was the same: no connection, no possibility to pay by card.
"Today I decided to go back to try to do some shopping, because I urgently need it, and it turns out that there’s still no connection to pay by card. It’s not Visa, it’s not MasterCard, it’s a Cuban card," he clarified, emphasizing that the problem does not differentiate between international and national cards.
Connectivity issues were compounded by other irregularities within the establishment. Vargas González recounted having to wait in a long line at the bag check due to a lack of tickets, "despite there being more than 15 empty shelves." Additionally, the payment system within the store is fragmented: different products are paid for at different registers, forcing customers to move around the store from one checkout to another.
"On top of that, nobody knows what our family and friends have to do to send us some money to these cards, and the prices are extremely high... you also can't compare due to lack of connection," he lamented.
The post generated a wide response from internet users who confirmed having had similar experiences in different parts of the country.
A commentator noted that at the store Caribe de Zapata y B in Havana, "there is never a connection even when there is power," and suggested that the reason is intentional: "the idea is simple, to collect cash in dollars."
Another internet user reported that the pattern is the same across the island: "If you don't have cash, you can't buy it, that simple."
From Cienfuegos, a user confirmed that the stores in that city "no longer like" to accept cards. A third individual recounted walking kilometers to an MLC store only to return empty-handed due to a lack of transportation and connectivity.
Various comments ranged from resignation to dark humor. "The play is called learning to die," wrote an internet user.
Another summed up the situation in a single word: "COMMUNISM." One user noted the paradox in the image that accompanied the post—a shelf filled with bottles of oil—and wrote: "Look at all that oil, and the people can't get a drop in their homes."
A netizen also pointed out the contradiction in the system: self-employed individuals are imposed with huge fines for not accepting transfers, while state-run stores do exactly the same without any consequences.
The connection issues in MLC stores are not new: the official press acknowledged them as early as 2021, with reports of duplicate charges and refunds that could take up to three months.
In April 2026, the Banco Popular de Ahorro admitted that it cannot provide cash dollars due to "low availability of MLC," while the Cuban peso fell to historic lows of 400 CUP per dollar in the informal market in August 2025, further worsening the public's access to the foreign currency that the State itself requires for purchases in its stores.
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