A Cuban journalist turned an "enthusiastic" video into a reflection of the economic crisis facing the island by showing for the first time in her life a 5,000 pesos bill and realizing that this amount exceeds her entire monthly salary.
Yirmara Torres Hernández, a professional from Matanzas, published the reel on Facebook during a course at the headquarters of the Union of Journalists of Cuba (UPEC), where a colleague attempted to pay for a snack costing 60 pesos with a 5,000 peso bill.
"First 5,000 Cuban peso bill I've seen... To think that it's more than my current salary," wrote the journalist beneath the video.
The scene is "striking" for several reasons: first, due to the low salaries of the sector made up of the "soldiers of the Revolution"; second, because although it was not the journalist's objective, it does highlight the cash shortage that exists in the country and the issues that arise from it.
The situation will worsen in August: Torres Hernández revealed that starting that month, his salary will amount to the sum of a 5,000 and a 2,000 peso bill, that is, a total of 7,000 pesos.
But the harshest paradox he pointed out is not the amount, but rather the way of payment: "They pay us digitally, which is as if they weren't paying us," he stated, referring to the fact that state workers receive their salaries via bank transfer in a country where daily commerce mainly operates in cash.
"The salary of Cuban journalists is less than this," he added in the video transcript, concluding with a phrase that encapsulates the state of the Cuban state media: "Nice little bills. Too bad you can buy so little with them."
"Ultimately, it's always the same people who get screwed over..." remarked the wordsmith, with a closing statement that needs little explanation.
The comments on the reel reflected that Torres Hernández's experience is not exceptional.
Several users claimed to have never seen that bill before, and the user Xiomara Miyares wrote: “Now there are two of us who haven't received that bill, if we even manage to get paid,” to which Elda M Tundidor replied: “Now there are three of us, and I think the count is quite large.”
The commentator Maykel Delgado put into perspective the real value of the bill: "5,000 pesos is equivalent to a deodorant." Torres Hernández responded: "More or less. Or to a bottle of oil. Incredible."
User Lily La Fé pointed out that those who have physical cash "are privileged," while Otmara Bartumeut warned that the high denomination bill "is captured by the small and medium enterprises and private banks; it will not circulate, that is certain."
Delgado explained in another comment the logic behind the banking distrust: "No one in their right mind would keep large sums in national currency, as it devalues every day and has no value in any country in the world." He added that Cubans avoid depositing because banks "are not trustworthy" and often do not return money when it is needed.
The user Hiram Torres warned that the issuance of high-denomination bills "will bring more inflation," a prediction with which the journalist herself agreed.
The episode encapsulates the spiral that the Cuban economy is experiencing after decades of dictatorial management: the regime issues banknotes of increasingly higher denominations in response to inflation, but this same measure accelerates the devaluation of the peso, while state workers receive their salaries digitally in a form of money that they cannot access in a country where everything is purchased in cash.
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