An onion that fits in the palm of a hand has become a symbol of the rising cost of food in Cuba, after a woman from Havana posted its price of 610 pesos (CUP) and asked what the tooth fairy Pérez would say upon finding out.
The photograph was shared this Thursday through her profile on Facebook by architect and entrepreneur Yulieta Hernández Díaz, who resides in Havana. In the comments of the post, although she did not mention where she purchased the food, she specified that the price of a pound of onions was 1,700 CUP.
If we use the price of the photographed unit as a reference, those 610 CUP correspond to almost 19% of the current monthly minimum wage of 3,210 CUP, effective since July.
The comparison helps to assess the impact of a product that is part of daily nutrition and whose price can consume a significant portion of monthly income.
Comments from other publications indicate that prices vary significantly between points of sale, but also that onions have ceased to be a minor item in daily expenses.
A person commented that at a farmers' market located on the border between the capital municipalities of Marianao and Boyeros, they recently saw "the largest purple onions I've ever seen in my life. Two of them didn't fit in my hand... It was like seeing cabbages, but onions," priced at 1800 CUP per pound.
References to even higher prices also emerged, with comments placing a pound of onions at 2,000 CUP in Holguín. These are prices reported by users on social media and not from an official general rate.
The case is not isolated in the reports shared on social media. In September, the musician Dagoberto Pedraja reported that a vendor at the agricultural fair on Línea and L, in Vedado, was charging 910 CUP for a single onion, while the official price approved by the Provincial Delegation of Agriculture of Havana was 180 CUP per pound.
"That is to say, the guy at the 'fair' charged me for a little onion what 'the criminal' gave me for less... What's up with 'the fair'?" wrote Pedraja, who is nearly 70 years old.
In that very month, a photograph of an onion held in the palm of a hand, accompanied by the question “Does this come from the earth or from Saturn?”, triggered outrage among hundreds of Cubans in the Facebook group Cuba Denuncia Now, where the post garnered hundreds of reactions and a chain of comments that pointed to agricultural collapse and government inability to control prices.
In that viral post, a citizen questioned how the product could reach those prices despite being grown in Cuba and held the government accountable for its inability to regulate prices.
Another comment linked the situation to ongoing issues in the agricultural sector and questioned the policies implemented since the Agrarian Reform, the spread of marabú, and the presence of administrative structures that, according to this opinion, have not resulted in sufficient production.
The backdrop described in the sources is an agricultural sector with significant limitations. Between 1.1 and 1.7 million hectares of previously productive land are now covered by marabú, while Cuba imports between 70% and 80% of the food it consumes, costing nearly 2 billion dollars annually. Additionally, in 2024, the agricultural sector received only 10% of the fuel it needed.
According to the latest Report on the Cuban Economy from the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy (CEEC) at the University of Havana, covering the first half of 2026, the spiral of prices has become one of the most devastating aspects of the current crisis.
The main driver of the increase is food and non-alcoholic beverages, which in August recorded a year-on-year rise of 36.01% and accounted for 63.18% of the total increase in the consumer price index in July.
Economists estimate that a Cuban family needs around 96,000 CUP per month to cover their basic expenses, of which more than 70,000 is allocated solely for food.
That figure far exceeds the current minimum wage and helps explain why an onion costing 610 CUP can become a source of indignation, mockery, and resignation.
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