A Cuban identified as Javier Pérez Álvarez reported on social media that the Banco Nacional de Cuba handed him his entire monthly salary in five Cuban peso bills, claiming that the bank did not have higher denominations available to make the payment.
"I just received my miserable one-month salary, and the National Bank of Cuba is giving it to me solely in 5-peso notes, one of the lowest denominations available, claiming that there are no higher denominations to make the payments," Pérez Álvarez wrote on his Facebook profile.
The problem is not limited to the amount of the salary, but rather to the practical impossibility of using it. MIPYMES and private businesses systematically reject five, ten, and twenty peso bills due to their minimal real value, and it is precisely those establishments that control the supply of food since the State abandoned that function.
"The owners of the MIPIMES do not accept that figure due to its low value; they are the ones who have the power to supply you with food (AT VERY HIGH PRICES, BUT IT'S THE ONLY SOLUTION)," remarked the Cuban, describing the trap in which the state worker finds himself.
The paradox that Pérez Álvarez highlights is telling: the State pays with a currency that its own trade partners reject. In response, the Cuban was straightforward: "If the Cuban State doesn’t have larger amounts in the banks, it’s because the same Mipimeros hold them and have taken them out of the banks... Let all the state banks close, and let the MIPIMES CREATE PRIVATE BANKS, because THEIR MISERABLE PAYMENT IS USELESS."
This case is not isolated. On July 2, the Bank of Credit and Commerce of Ciego de Ávila issued a statement reminding that rejecting low-denomination banknotes constitutes a "flagrant violation of citizens' rights" and that all banknotes have full liberating power according to the law. However, the regulation is not applied in practice.
In April, a Cuban received more than 200,000 pesos in 10 CUP bills —around 20,000 pieces— equivalent to just 384 dollars at the informal exchange rate, in a scene that went viral as a symbol of monetary collapse. In December 2025, a self-employed worker in Boyeros openly rejected five peso bills, demanding only denominations of 100 CUP or higher.
The economic backdrop exacerbates the situation. The new minimum wage of 3,210 pesos, effective since July but payable only starting in August, amounts to just 4.65 dollars in the informal market, with the dollar trading between 690 and 695 pesos.
The average salary is around 6,989 pesos per month, while basic needs are estimated at about 96,000 pesos, which is approximately 14 times that average. A carton of eggs costs between 3,000 and 4,000 pesos, more than the total minimum wage.
Meanwhile, the banking system promised by the government is sinking: more than 50% of the ATMs in Havana are deactivated and the Metropolitan Bank has reduced the withdrawal limit from 5,000 to 3,000 pesos per transaction in June, below the legal minimum. The Central Bank issued new 2,000 and 5,000 peso bills in April, but many Cubans still haven't seen them three months later.
Pérez Álvarez concluded his statement with a demand that encapsulates the exasperation of thousands: "I am tired of the State only finding ways to create problems and not how to solve them. Enough of this abuse. Let the people live in peace. If they can no longer control their own currency... DELEGATE ALL AT ONCE!"
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