Related videos:
A retired journalist from Santa Clara was refused service at a private business when he attempted to buy ten loaves of bread using 100 five-peso Cuban bills, money that the state bank had given him as part of his pension.
The episode, recounted by the affected individual in the newspaper Trabajadores, starkly reveals an illegal practice that has become normalized throughout Cuba: the refusal to accept low denomination bills from the most vulnerable citizens.
Arturo Chang, 74 years old and with 45 years of journalistic experience within the government, receives a maximum pension of 3,653 Cuban pesos per month.
Upon cashing it, the bank provided him with 1,000 pesos in five-peso bills (200 units featuring the image of Maceo). With 100 of those bills, he went to the establishment "24.7," located on the Camajuaní highway, to buy lunch for the day.
The situation was desperate: a blackout lasting almost 24 hours, no coal to cook with, empty refrigeration units, and a 78-year-old diabetic wife who could not stay without food.
"Without coal because we had to go get it, with a blackout lasting almost 24 hours, the empty refrigeration units, those loaves of bread and a can of spam were the hope for lunch," wrote Chang.
The employees of the business refused to accept the payment.
In response to the journalist's questions about his age and his wife's situation, the reply was emphatic: "This is private and the owner can make that decision," and "You could have also chosen not to accept those bills."
Chang filed a formal complaint at the public service office of the Municipal Assembly of the People's Power in Santa Clara, where he was promised the presence of inspectors.
After waiting for nearly two hours, two women arrived who did not identify themselves as such, which caused a new confusion.
The business owner explained later that the day before she had ordered to accept small bills from vulnerable individuals, but that the employees on duty were unaware of that instruction.
He also revealed that wholesalers do not accept low-denomination bills, which perpetuates the cycle of rejection down to the weakest link.
After more than three hours of negotiations, when the owner finally offered to sell her the bread, the employee reported that they were already sold out.
Chang returned home without lunch.
"Without a doubt, it is a chain where the link that always breaks is that of the clients, especially the older ones whose capacities may not be sufficient to successfully carry out these procedures," concluded the journalist.
The case coincides with a statement published this Thursday by the Banco de Crédito y Comercio (BANDEC) of Ciego de Ávila, which demands that micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, as well as self-employed individuals, immediately cease the rejection of 5, 10, and 20 peso bills, warning that this practice violates the regulations of the Central Bank of Cuba, which stipulates that all bills have "full monetary power."
The phenomenon is not new. Since December 2024, similar cases have been documented in various provinces, and in April 2026 a viral video showed a Cuban receiving more than 200,000 pesos in 10 CUP bills, equivalent to just 384 dollars, a symbol of the monetary collapse the island is experiencing.
The public reacted with skepticism to BANDEC's statement. "If it’s a law, there’s no need for any call to conscience. What’s necessary is to enforce it without leniency," wrote a user on social media, summarizing the widespread distrust toward a regime that issues regulations that no one enforces.
Filed under: