A young Cuban mother identified as Yoly Miranda posted a video on Facebook, where she humorously and straightforwardly documents the prices she encountered during her visit to the Pa'Cuba Festival at the National Aquarium in Havana, and poses a question that many are asking: are those prices really within reach of the Cuban family?
The most shocking piece of information was about a stroller priced at 15,000 pesos. Miranda summarizes it with irony: "15 thousand pesos for a stroller. Just as the aftermath of the remittance settles." She and her son chose the version that costs a thousand pesos for both, "with the change much shorter than the current that hits your circuit."
The festival's water park charges 3,000 pesos for 30 minutes, 10,000 pesos for two hours, or 30 dollars for the whole day. "Then they say there are no water parks in Cuba, but there are. The only thing is that you first have to sell a kidney," Miranda says in the video. The slide, according to her, was the only free attraction.
The gastronomy was not left out of the account: a pizza for 1,350 pesos, two servings of fried rice for 2,000 pesos, and two pieces of fish with rice and salad for 3,500 pesos. "I'm still trying to figure out if those 'affordable prices' live in Cuba or just land directly from Miami," he quipped, referring to the festival’s promotion as an event with "affordable prices" for all families.
The contrast with the economic reality of the Island is striking. The average monthly salary in Cuba hovers around 6,930 pesos, equivalent to between five and 13 dollars on the informal exchange. The minimum wage, raised to 3,210 pesos starting July 1, barely reaches 4.65 dollars per month. A basic family outing to the festival — tickets, two meals, and two soft drinks — can exceed 10,000 pesos, more than 150% of the average monthly salary.
The Pa'Cuba Festival, organized by Conex, a company of the Palco Business Group, took place from June 5 to July 19 at the National Aquarium, featuring around 100 private entrepreneurial ventures. Admission to the venue cost 150 pesos for adults and 50 pesos for children, presented as the affordable option for the event. The festival also included prices such as bread with roast pork for a thousand pesos and skewers for 1,600, according to other reports.
Miranda was careful to clarify that her video is not a criticism of the event. "My intention with this video is not to criticize the event, because there are truly many beautiful things and the children have an amazing time. I just wanted to share my experience and open the discussion about something many of us comment on: Are these prices really within reach of the Cuban family?" she wrote in her Facebook post.
As an additional piece of information that I didn't include in the video, Miranda revealed that during her visit to the water park, there was also a blackout of the National Electric System. "The SEN decided that it also wanted to go to the Pa'Cuba Festival," she wrote sarcastically.
Still, her son enjoyed the outing, and that, she acknowledged, “is ultimately the most important part.” However, her closing question lingered: “Am I being the exaggerator, or are those prices completely out of touch with reality?”
Filed under: