A Cuban who posts on TikTok under the name @yanelasinfiltro showed this Friday what she was able to purchase with 7,000 Cuban pesos in a video that summarizes the purchasing power crisis the island is experiencing: five pounds of white sugar, two pounds of brown sugar, six 100-gram bars of soap, a one-liter bottle of vinegar, and a one-kilogram pack of detergent.
That's all.
The detailed list provided by the user reveals the current prices in the Cuban market: white sugar at 450 pesos per pound (2,250 pesos in total), brown sugar at 550 pesos per pound (1,100 pesos), each soap at 300 pesos (1,800 pesos for six), vinegar at 700 pesos, and detergent at 1,300 pesos.
One of the most revealing details of the video is the clarification made about the soaps: "Each bath soap, gentlemen, look at 100g, which is good for 2 baths."
In other words, with 1,800 pesos—more than half of a monthly minimum wage—you can only get 12 bars of soap.
Independent estimates calculate that a person in Cuba needs around 96,000 pesos monthly to meet their basic needs, of which more than 70,000 are solely for food.
Personal hygiene requires an additional 11,450 pesos, and home cleaning costs another 4,740 pesos within that estimated basket.
The phenomenon of showcasing purchases on social media has become a popular form of protest among Cubans, who display the limited amount of products that can be acquired with large sums of money.
The pricing context exacerbates the situation even further: the regime removed the price cap on rice in July, which was set at 155 pesos per pound, eliminating one of the few remaining controls over basic food items.
A recent tour of the market in La Güinera, Havana, confirmed prices similar to those in the video: 500 grams of powdered detergent for 750 pesos, bleach for 750 pesos, and two bars of laundry soap for 260 pesos.
At the end of her video, the user posed a question that encapsulates the feelings of those who experience this reality every day: "What do you think of my purchase?"
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