A Cuban woman identified as Keidi Pérez went viral on Facebook after posting a 56-second video in which she denounces, amidst laughter and outrage, the unstoppable rise in food prices on the island.
"What can you tell me about the rising cost of food, my friend? Just realize that last week I bought a stick of butter, and today when I went to buy another one, it cost 50 pesos more," Pérez recounts in the clip.
The Cuban woman is not just complaining about the price of butter; she is pointing to something deeper, the rapid loss of purchasing power of the Cuban peso.
"You don't have to buy a pair of shoes every day or new underwear, but you have to eat, no matter how little you eat," he asserts with a mix of humor and despair.
To illustrate how much cash one needs to bring to the market nowadays, Pérez draws on an image that many Cubans immediately recognize: "I remember that the wallet my grandmother used was this small, just like this, she would tuck it under her arm, and now you have to go out with a briefcase."
And he warns that the situation will continue to worsen: "The time will come when you'll have to go out with a wheelbarrow."
His conclusion is as simple as it is devastating: "Without words, indeed, without words, gentlemen."
Pérez's testimony is not an isolated case. According to official data from ONEI, the year-on-year inflation in Cuba reached 15.89% in May 2026, with the group of food and non-alcoholic beverages increasing by 19.24% compared to the previous year. Independent estimates place the real inflation rate well above these figures.
In the markets and fairs, the concrete prices are overwhelming: oil ranges from 1,800 to 2,000 Cuban pesos (CUP), coal reaches 3,500 CUP, and white cheese is 1,000 CUP per pound. A basic grocery purchase at a neighborhood fair totaled 21,060 CUP on June 4, more than three times the average monthly salary.
And that average salary is only 6,930 CUP per month, equivalent to less than 13 dollars at the current informal exchange rate, according to data from the ONEI for 2025.
A recent academic estimate calculated that a person needs at least 96,060 CUP per month to cover their basic needs, of which 70,070 CUP is allocated solely for food. This means that the average salary covers only 7% of what is necessary to live.
Other Cuban women have documented similar situations on social media. One woman reported that over the course of two days, the prices at a market in Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus, were "out of control"; another spent over 21,000 CUP on a basic grocery run in her neighborhood at the beginning of June.
The dollar in the informal market, which started June at 585 CUP, climbed to 680 CUP on June 17, further worsening the purchasing power of those who rely on foreign currency for their essentials.
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