While the Cuban government insists on presenting the new neighborhood markets as a solution to facilitate access to food, consumer testimonies reveal a very different reality: prices that remain beyond the reach of salaries and pensions, product shortages, and little hope for improvement.
José Ángel Calviño Pérez, general director of the Business Group of Commerce in Guantánamo, defended the operation of these establishments during an intervention in the program “In Frequency with the People”, from Radio Guantánamo.
"We have already established seven neighborhood markets in the province: three in Baracoa, two in Maisí, and two in Yateras," the official stated.
Calviño explained that Guantánamo has 630 stores, of which 197 were selected to cater to vulnerable individuals through the distribution of basic product modules. This measure is part of a national reorganization of state commerce that envisions 1,913 stores designated for that population.
It was also noted that two of the new markets operate under the management of state-owned companies: the Agroforestry of Coconut in Baracoa and the Agroindustrial of Maisí.
According to the executive, the model includes the marketing of rice, beans, sugar, oil, milk, and hygiene products, as well as tax benefits such as the exemption from the 5% tax on retail sales and the use of electronic payments, in accordance with the from the Ministry of Domestic Trade.
However, the main concern of consumers is not the proximity of the stores, but how much they can buy with their income.
"In these neighborhood markets, it's almost impossible to buy."
The initiative started with 24 establishments and, according to the official figures reported by the state newspaper Granma, it has now reached 47 markets in various provinces.
The authorities initially promised prices that would be 15% to 30% lower than those in the private sector, although at some openings, the discounts announced have been only 10% to 15%.
A report by the agency AFP highlights the challenges faced by those who visit these establishments.
"I am 82 years old and my pension is 3,000 pesos. Coming to this market is only to buy a bottle of oil and that's it," lamented América Guillén, a retiree from Havana.
Paula Sonia Santiago, a housewife, summarized the problem with another phrase: "In these neighborhood markets, it's almost impossible to shop."
The known prices help explain the complaints. In neighborhood markets in Santiago de Cuba, products such as rice have been recorded at 350 pesos per kilogram, eggs at 150 pesos each, and powdered milk at 4,000 pesos.
With a minimum wage of 3,210 pesos per month, buying ten eggs represents almost half of that income. The discrepancy becomes even more alarming when compared to estimates released in June 2026, which indicated that the cost of basic necessities for a person was approximately 96,000 pesos per month, nearly 30 times the minimum wage.
The situation occurs in a context of growing poverty. According to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), 94% of the participants in their study were classified as being in extreme poverty and eight out of ten have had to skip at least one meal a day due to a lack of food or money.
What will happen with the ration stores and the supply booklet?
The expansion of neighborhood markets coincides with the transformation of the traditional network of bodegas, which has distributed food for decades using the ration book system.
The Ministry of Domestic Trade recently announced the selection of 1,913 warehouses from a national network of over 12,000 to assist individuals in vulnerable situations, but it has yet to clearly explain what will happen with the remaining establishments or how the new distribution will be implemented.
The activist Radimir Galán warned Martí Noticias that the revamped stores would operate under a different commercial logic than that of the previous subsidized distribution points.
"The prices there will be based on supply and demand. There will be no subsidized prices in those new locations," he noted.
Although the transformation fuels concerns about the future of the rationing booklet, the Cuban government has not formally announced its elimination.
Criticism also reached the government portal , whose public consultation about neighborhood markets sparked numerous negative responses.
Some users reported prices similar to those of small and medium-sized enterprises, while others claimed that those establishments do not even exist in their municipalities.
One of the most shared comments summed up the dissatisfaction with irony: “I want to go to the neighborhood market where Díaz-Canel and Marrero shop”.
For Rafael García, a 75-year-old retiree interviewed by AFP after buying eggs at the Doña Luisa market in Havana, the difference between official promises and reality can be summed up in one phrase:
"It's not that it's cheaper; it's that it's less expensive."
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