A 16-second video posted this Thursday on Facebook by content creator Loky Kubah humorously summarizes what millions of Cubans face each month: oil at 1,800 pesos, charcoal at 1,500, sugar at 900 pesos per kilogram, rice at 300 per pound, and a carton of eggs at 3,000 pesos, all against a monthly salary of just 2,500 pesos.
"This must be wrong, this is my humidity, this has to be wrong, this can't be like this," repeats the creator sarcastically, and the reaction was immediate, with around a thousand comments in just a few hours.
The video arrived at a time of heightened tension. On June 19, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz announced before the National Assembly a package of 176 economic measures that will raise the minimum wage to 3,210 pesos starting July 1.
The citizens' reaction was one of sarcasm and resignation, as at the informal exchange rate of June 20, 693 pesos per dollar, that salary amounts to just 4.65 dollars a month.
The comments on the video confirm that the situation varies and worsens depending on the province. "In Camagüey, coal is at 4,000 pesos," wrote one user.
Another person, from Havana, responded: "You underestimated the price of sugar because here it’s already at 1,000 pesos per kilogram." A third person described their area: "Oil 1,800, sugar per pound 400, rice 330 per pound, and coal 3,500 or 4,000, and it's scarce."
The most cited reference on social media was the carton of eggs, which in the informal market ranges between 3,000 and 4,000 pesos, meaning it can cost more than the entire minimum wage.
"Those who are wrong are the ones who set that amount as salary," declared another commentator. "And we go crazy doing the math and it just doesn't add up," summarized another user.
The gap between income and prices is neither new nor accidental. The economist Javier Pérez Capdevila estimated that a person needs about 96,060 pesos per month to cover basic expenses, of which 70,070 pesos would be solely for food.
The official newspaper Invasor acknowledged recently that salary is "the main source of discontent" among Cuban workers.
For his part, the union leader Edilberto Acosta Ramos warned that "the salary issues lead to serious consequences such as demotivation, workplace indiscipline, and the exodus of skilled and experienced individuals."
That exodus already has concrete figures: more than 24,000 vacant teaching positions at the start of the 2025-2026 school year and over 24,000 workers lost in the health system.
Meanwhile, the dollar in the informal market is nearing the barrier of 700 pesos, having risen by 108 pesos just in June, which represents more than an 18% increase in 20 days.
The most recent blow came on June 18, when the leader Miguel Díaz-Canel announced that the basic food basket will no longer be universal and will be restricted to retirees, families with chronically ill children, and vulnerable individuals, marking the largest cut to rationing since its inception in 1962.
The irony is that retirees, the only ones who will retain this benefit, receive a minimum pension of 3,056 pesos per month, less than nine dollars, while a basic basket for two people in Havana cost between 39,595 and 41,735 pesos per month in 2025.
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