The Municipal Administrative Council of the capital of Las Tunas carried out over 4,000 inspections and at the end of the operation identified 24 citizens for charging abusive and speculative prices, reported this Saturday by the official newspaper 26.
The result of those inspections included the imposition of over 2,000 fines, the eradication of 478 "illegities," and the resolution of 44 complaints filed by the public.
Out of more than 2,000 sanctions, 72% were imposed under Decrees 30 and 91, regulations that penalize price violations and tighten penalties for self-employed individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises, and non-agricultural cooperatives, with fines of up to 72,000 pesos and additional sanctions such as closure and equipment shutdown.
Among the most common violations detected by the authorities in Tunera are price manipulation, non-compliance with the use of electronic payment gateways, lack of operating licenses, electrical fraud, and violations of health and hygiene regulations, the source specified.
The municipal government stated that there has been an increase in the number of inspections, detected violations, and fines imposed compared to the same period in 2025, presenting these as evidence of "the local authorities' willingness to dismantle practices that affect social order and the economy of the territory."
The tunero operation is part of a wave of similar actions taking place across the island this month, triggered by the price hike that followed Resolution 150/2026 from the Ministry of Finance and Prices, published on June 20, which eliminated the retail price caps for cooking oils, chopped chicken, powdered milk, pasta, and sausages.
Since then, the price of oil increased from about 1,500 pesos in April to over 4,000 pesos in August, with peaks of up to 7,000 pesos in some localities, in a country where the minimum monthly wage is 3,210 pesos.
The contradiction noted by Cubans is evident; the government itself removed price controls and contributed to the escalation, and now it penalizes private sellers for the same prices generated by its policy, while state-run stores operate with high prices without undergoing inspections equivalent to those faced by private businesses.
In provinces such as Havana, authorities imposed dozens of fines and ordered forced sales in private businesses; Holguín set reference prices for oil at 2,200 pesos, while Villa Clara approved formal maximum limits through a provincial agreement.
Las Tunas has a history of such offensives. In July 2024, authorities shut down 12 small and medium-sized enterprises for violating price caps, issuing 52 fines and enforcing forced sales, yet this did not curb the structural inflation affecting the province.
Economists estimate that a person needs around 96,060 pesos per month to cover their basic needs, an amount that is 30 times the current minimum wage and turns any price control operation into a temporary fix for a crisis that the regime itself has created.
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