A Cuban woman who spent four years in the United States with the immigration form I-220A and voluntarily returned to the island in May 2026 showcased on TikTok what she bought in a Cuban market for her two-year-old daughter's snacks: the total amounted to $40.35 dollars.
Débora (@soydeborah97), who currently lives in Pratacúe with her mother while preparing her own home, posted the video on Saturday in which she explores a local market in search of basic necessities for the girl.
"Today we started the day running to the market, as I had run out of a few things for the girl's snack," she explained at the beginning of the video.
Among the products purchased were a pack of waffles ($2.65), peaches ($4.20), ketchup ($2.00), coffee hazelnut cream ($4.20), Estancia juices ($0.80 each), nail polish ($0.90), packs of elbow macaroni ($1.20 each), soft drinks ($0.60 each), macaroni and cheese ($1.20), and six yogurts at $0.75 each.
However, there were items she decided not to buy. "I didn’t buy cheese because in the end it was priced at a free sol and it was too expensive," she noted. She also didn’t take anything from the market's refrigerator: "This time I was looking at the things in the refrigerator, but I didn’t like anything. I didn’t find any fair prices; everything was too expensive, and I didn’t buy anything."
As she concluded the video, Débora posed a question to her followers: "Tell me what you think, is it expensive or is it affordable to be here in Cuba?"
The amount spent on a single snack purchase takes on a different significance when contrasted with the economic reality of the island. The official minimum wage in Cuba is just 2,100 Cuban pesos (CUP), equivalent to about $3-4 at the unofficial exchange rate, while the average salary hovers around 6,930 CUP, approximately $10. The $40.35 that Débora allocated for snacks represents between four and ten monthly salaries of an average Cuban worker.
The dollar is trading in the informal market between 655 and 695 CUP in June 2026, and food prices in Cuba continue to soar: a 50-kilogram sack of rice costs 31,800 CUP, a pound of chicken is 500 CUP, and a carton of eggs ranges from 3,000 to 3,100 CUP.
Débora returned to Cuba after receiving a summons from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that required her to appear on a Saturday with all her documents. "My story is a bit sad because I was I-220A and we had a very bad situation. When I had the appointment at that place... they told me that I had to come back another day, which was a Saturday, and that I needed to bring all my documents. I got scared, so I made the decision to return," she recounted in a previous video.
She made the decision before her immigration hearing to avoid a formal deportation, although this meant losing the opportunity to return to the United States legally. Her two-year-old daughter is a U.S. citizen, and Débora is in the process of obtaining Cuban citizenship for her.
The case of Débora fits into a broader pattern: Cubans with I-220A who chose voluntary return in response to the tightening of immigration policies under the Trump administration, which in February 2026 repatriated 170 Cubans on the first deportation flight of the year.
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