A Cuban identified as Ololoddi Arlenys shared a testimony on Facebook that encapsulates the desperation of millions of people on the island: she went out to buy basic food items and returned "with practically empty hands" because the money she had was not enough to cover even half of what she needed.
"It is inhumane what we Cubans are experiencing," wrote the young woman, who detailed the prices she found in the market: a liter of oil between 6,000 pesos and more; a carton of eggs at 4,200 pesos; a package of chicken at 11,300 pesos; ten sausages at 1,100 pesos; a pound of pork between 1,500 and 1,900 pesos; and a kilogram of rice at 800 pesos.
His conclusion was striking: "And what's the point of continuing? Even by killing ourselves working, we don't solve anything."
The statement comes at a time when the official year-on-year inflation in Cuba reached 20.70% in July 2026, according to data from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).
The food and beverage sector was the main driver, contributing 63.18% to the total increase in the consumer price index that month.
Independent estimates, however, place the actual inflation perceived in the informal market at around 70% year-on-year, far above the official figure.
Behind the price increase is the Resolution 150/2026 from the Ministry of Finance and Prices, signed by Minister Vladimir Regueiro Ale and published on June 20 in the Official Gazette.
The regulation eliminated price caps on essential imported products such as oil, chopped chicken, powdered milk, pasta, and sausages, repealing previous resolutions that set maximum prices.
Miguel Díaz-Canel himself had acknowledged days before, on June 18, that these caps "did not manage to contain inflation" and resulted in shortages, a shift towards illegality, and lower revenue.
The result was a new escalation: the price of oil jumped from around 1,500 pesos in April to over 4,000 pesos in August, with peaks reaching up to 7,000 pesos in some areas.
The gap between these prices and the income of Cubans is vast. The official average salary stands at 6,930 pesos per month, equivalent to between 12 and 15 dollars at the informal exchange rate. The minimum wage, set at 3,210 pesos since July 2026, does not reach five dollars.
The economist Javier Pérez Capdevila calculated that a Cuban family needs at least 96,060 pesos per month to cover their basic needs, of which 70,070 pesos would be just for food.
The testimony of Ololoddi Arlenys is not an isolated case. Throughout August, dozens of Cubans have erupted on social media with similar complaints about the inability to afford decent meals.
Some municipalities such as Matanzas, Villa Clara, and Isla de la Juventud have attempted to set local price caps—110 pesos for eggs, 2,500 pesos per liter for oil—that the informal market systematically ignores.
"And what’s the point of going on? Even working ourselves to death doesn’t solve anything," concluded Ololoddi Arlenys in her post, with a phrase that thousands of Cubans have made their own.
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