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A user identified as Monbay Gale reported on Saturday in the Facebook group "La Candonga Santa Clara" that a private business located at the corner of Independencia and Virtudes streets, in Santa Clara, Villa Clara, refused to accept payment through Transfermóvil from an elderly woman who only wanted to buy two eggs.
According to the account, the egg cost 110 Cuban pesos each, so the total purchase amounted to just 220 pesos.
The elderly lady did not have cash, but she did have 650 pesos available on her bank card, a balance that the complainant verified by authenticating the application on her phone.
The vendor at the stall had agreed to accept payment via transfer, but at that moment, a man whom the complainant describes as the alleged manager of the establishment burst in and strictly prohibited any digital payment.
"Suddenly, that guanajo comes in like a beast, standing outside in the photo with a white hoodie and a bread roll in hand, yelling and telling him that there’s no more transfers available for anyone," wrote Monbay Gale in his post.
Given the situation, the complainant ended up buying five eggs for the elderly woman out of his own pocket.
However, he clarified that his intention was not just to recount the episode but to highlight the disproportion of the refusal: "I know that life is very difficult and these individual businesses struggle to maintain cash flow, but come on, there's no need to be so extreme. How can you not accept 220, which is a trivial amount, from a poor old man and leave him without food?"
The complainant also explicitly requested that the authorities take action: "What happens is that an inspector comes, doesn't show his badge, asks for whatever he wants, and when he inquires about paying through Transfermóvil, this jerk comes back and tells him no, and then takes out his badge and imposes a fine of 70,000 for his trouble."
The case occurs in a context where less than 10% of private businesses in Cuba effectively comply with the banking regulations, according to reports from May 2026.
Resolution 93/2023 from the Ministry of Domestic Trade, effective February 2024, mandates that all establishments—state-owned, private, small and medium-sized enterprises, and self-employed workers—must enable payment gateways such as Transfermóvil or EnZona, under the threat of fines, closures, and cancellation of licenses.
The Prime Minister Manuel Marrero himself stated in 2023 that "no one can refuse" to allow a customer to pay electronically. However, practical resistance is widespread: private businesses need cash to purchase supplies from suppliers who also do not accept transfers, and cash on hand facilitates tax evasion.
In Santiago de Cuba, commissions of up to 50% have been reported for converting transfers into cash, reflecting the liquidity shortage that the island is experiencing.
The refusal to accept digital payments is compounded by the egg supply crisis: the regime acknowledged in January 2025 a production drop of 43%, and in April 2026, egg cartons surpassed 3,000 pesos in private markets in Holguín.
In that context, the fact that an elderly person without cash was prevented from buying two eggs for 220 pesos sparked outrage on social media, with over 300 reactions to the original post.
Until September 2024, the regime had detected 26,538 deficiencies nationwide due to non-compliance with digital payment regulations, imposing over 15,000 violations amounting to more than 71 million pesos, and closed 58 additional businesses in that same month.
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