A Cuban woman identified as Ayaini Valdés (@valdesbello57) turned to selling tamales to survive after the economic crisis and power outages ruined her previous business, as she shows in a video posted on TikTok that went viral.
Ayaini sold coconut pancakes until the price of sugar tripled, and the business became unviable. "We were selling coconut pancakes, but the price of sugar went up threefold, and we had to stop," she explains in the video. With a child to support, she decided to reinvent herself: "I have a child to feed, so I can't just sit back and do nothing."
Her new venture is tamales, known in Cuba as "tallullos," but the crisis soon emerged during the preparation itself.
Halfway through the cooking process, the water was cut off—a common issue on the island, where power outages and supply failures even affect drinking water service—and he had to finish cooking over charcoal. "Halfway through, the water said, 'I’m not present anymore.' So we had to gather everything and finish it on the charcoal. By the way, it's still quite expensive," he recounted.
Despite the setbacks, the day ended well: "We finished tired and wet, but happy, because the sales were wonderful."
The entrepreneur attributes the success of the sale to the widespread food scarcity on the island. "Here in Cuba, with the hunger that exists, anything that is food sells quickly," she stated. And although she acknowledges that the profits are not large, she prefers to take action: "Better something than nothing."
The case of Ayaini reflects a widespread reality among Cubans. The sugar crisis in Cuba is structural: the 2024-2025 sugar harvest produced less than 150,000 metric tons, the lowest level since 1899, which has caused the price of sugar to surge to between 290 and 600 pesos per pound in the informal market.
Meanwhile, the energy crisis has worsened to unprecedented levels. According to CNN en Español, blackouts in Havana exceeded 20-22 hours daily in May 2026, and the country has experienced at least four total disconnections of the National Electric System in four months. The Cuban Minister of Energy himself acknowledged that diesel reserves were nearly depleted.
This combination of supply shortages and lack of electricity forces entrepreneurs to cook with charcoal or firewood, further increasing production costs. In this context, informal food sales have become one of the few economic opportunities for many Cuban families, especially mothers who need to generate daily income with minimal initial capital.
Another Cuban entrepreneur, Maire (@mairelysdelarosa6), summed it up last Wednesday with stark clarity: "There is absolutely no guarantee" when starting a business from Cuba, although she added, "Yes, it is possible, but the question is not if it's possible, it's whether you have the courage to try."
Ayaini, for her part, ends her video with a phrase that encapsulates the resilience of those trying to move forward on the island: "I know that little by little we will get ahead."
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