An inspection operation in Sancti Spíritus ended with more than 200 fines and the closure of at least five private businesses, primarily due to violations related to pricing and the use of electronic payment gateways.
The sanctions were announced this Tuesday by the state telecenter CentroVisión Yayabo. Most of them were due to pricing irregularities, while another group was related to violations of the electronic payment regulations.
The inspectors detected, among other irregularities, businesses that refused to accept electronic payments or charged different prices depending on whether the customer paid in cash or via transfer. They also reported issues with the quality of goods, outdated information provided to consumers, and expired products.
The operation involved municipal and provincial inspectors, as well as officials from ONAT and the ministries of Labor and Domestic Trade, and focused on establishments in some of the main thoroughfares and commercial areas of the city.
"Everything is going to get more difficult."
The news sparked a wave of criticism on social media, where numerous Cubans questioned why the government's response to issues facing private commerce remains focused on fines and closures.
"Haha, continue the witch hunt; not even little Martina the cockroach is going to come and invest," one user sarcastically remarked.
"All the businesses are closing because they want to avoid fines, the inspectors... where is this all going to end? It's all the same old story, and the problem isn't going to be solved," commented another person.
Others warned that the tightening of inspections could end up further reducing the available supply for consumers.
"Many self-employed workers will start closing down; the fines are quite high, and everything is going to get more difficult; things will come from the left and prices will skyrocket," noted an internet user.
Some commentators even questioned the procedure used to impose the sanctions. Two of them cited the to argue that the inspectors would not be authorized to directly impose certain fines at the moment of detecting an infringement.
"The inspectors cannot impose fines once the alleged violations are detected because that is not the established procedure, and when this is violated, the fines are null even if the infringement is valid," one of them stated.
The conflict over electronic payments arises amid the government's difficulties in expanding the banking system within the economy.
The official press itself acknowledged in July the poor results of the process: only 3.77% of transactions conducted in Cuba are digital, and in Sancti Spíritus, less than 10% of private businesses regularly accept transfers.
Entrepreneurs have pointed out a contradiction that makes it difficult to abandon cash: numerous suppliers, wholesalers, and importers require payments outside of banking channels or in foreign currency, while businesses face challenges in withdrawing the necessary cash from banks to replenish inventory.
"If the payment chain does not translate into electronic operations from wholesale SMEs and importers, everything else will continue to exist with a tendency toward illegality as something normal," summarized a user.
The inspections in Sancti Spíritus are part of an offensive that has spread to several provinces. On August 6, five businesses were closed in Bayamo for refusing to accept payments via transfer, while in Guantánamo the authorities announced similar sanctions.
In Havana, the municipal government of Plaza de la Revolución also warned of temporary closures of up to three months due to certain price violations in private establishments.
The Central Bank of Cuba attempted to relax some of the regulations in July, eliminating the limit of 5,000 pesos for cash payments between economic actors and reducing the commission applied to trade from 1.5% to 0.8%.
However, the operation in Sancti Spíritus once again highlights the gap between official demands and the everyday functioning of an economy marked by cash shortages, weak banking infrastructure, and a supply chain that still relies heavily on transactions outside of electronic channels.
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