A Cuban from Ciego de Ávila showed how much she had to spend to travel to Havana for a visa interview for Mexico, and the expenses reveal a reality that hits those who need to move within the island: a trip that lasts just a day can consume several monthly salaries.
The content creator @SoyBryhtney broke down in a video on Facebook the transportation, accommodation, and food expenses she faced in order to attend her consular appointment in the capital.
The ticket from Ciego de Ávila to Havana cost him 15,000 Cuban pesos (CUP). To return, he had to pay another 15,000, so he spent a total of 30,000 CUP just on transportation.
The bill included 8,500 CUP for one night in a private home.
"I arrived at 1 PM on the 7th and leave at 12 PM on the 8th," he explained in the video.
During the journey, he also spent 1,500 CUP on food, which he used to buy a bread roll with roast pork and a can of juice.
In total, traveling to Havana, spending a night, and eating something during the trip cost him around 40,000 CUP, equivalent to about $57.55 based on an informal exchange rate of approximately 695 CUP per dollar.
A trip that is equivalent to several salaries
The amount takes on a different dimension when compared to the incomes of Cuban workers.
The minimum wage has been set at 3,210 CUP per month starting from July 1, 2026, while the average state salary is around 7,074 CUP.
This means that the approximately 40,000 pesos spent by the young woman equate to more than five average monthly salaries and more than 12 minimum wages.
The 30,000 CUP he paid for the trip represents more than four times the average salary of a state worker.
The case thus reflects one of the harshest contradictions of the Cuban economic crisis: to complete a procedure that can only be done in Havana, a resident from another province may be forced to spend in just a few hours what would take months to earn with a state salary.
Arriving in Havana, another problem
The price is not the only obstacle. Cuba is experiencing a deep crisis in interprovincial transportation, characterized by fuel shortages, the deterioration of the vehicle fleet, and a drastic reduction in service frequency.
As of June 18, 2026, the national buses between Havana and the provincial capitals ceased daily operations and began to run only three times a week.
In some areas, the situation is even more complex. In Villa Clara, for example, passengers must request authorization from provincial commissions to access certain national bus or train journeys.
At the beginning of August, the Ministry of Transport announced that national bus tickets would once again be sold in physical agencies with only three days' notice. However, this measure does not increase the available frequencies nor does it alleviate the burden that transportation places on family incomes.
Traveling to the capital to complete a procedure
The reason for @SoyBryhtney's trip adds another dimension to the issue.
Thousands of Cubans living outside Havana have to travel to the capital to carry out consular and immigration procedures, as most foreign diplomatic missions are concentrated there and do not have offices in the provinces.
This requires adding the cost of interprovincial transportation, meals, and, depending on the appointment time, at least one night of accommodation to the overall expenses.
The young woman's video exceeded 27,000 views and sparked dozens of comments, demonstrating how much her experience resonates with the everyday struggles faced by those who need to travel for paperwork, medical appointments, work matters, or simply to visit their family.
The alternatives are not within everyone's reach either. Viazul, the bus service primarily targeted at tourists, starting in May 2025 requires payment in euros and by card, which are prohibitive conditions for many residents on the island.
Everything happens in a country where estimates by economist Javier Pérez Capdevila place the monthly basic cost per person at over 96,000 CUP, of which more than 70,000 would be solely for food.
In that context, the nearly 40,000 pesos spent by @SoyBryhtney do not represent a vacation or a luxury. They were the cost of getting to Havana, spending one night, eating a pork sandwich, and returning to her province after completing a consular task.
Her experience quantifies an increasingly common reality in Cuba: for many citizens, traveling from one province to another has ceased to be an everyday journey and has become a difficult expense to bear.
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