A resident of Cienfuegos named Ernesto Lima posted this Friday on Facebook a photograph holding a piece of pumpkin and three sweet potatoes, denouncing that those foods cost him 1,300 Cuban pesos, an amount that reflects the desperation of millions of Cubans facing an unrelenting food crisis.
Living in Cuba is already extremely difficult. This piece of pumpkin and these three sweet potatoes cost me 1,300 pesos. How long will this last, government of Cuba, how long?
Several Cubans reported the exorbitant prices across the island. "A pound of peppers, 1,000 pesos. So it's not surprising," wrote one commentator. Another noted that four and a half pounds of sweet potato cost him 560 pesos that same day. A third person reported paying 1,200 pesos for a chicken thigh with skin, describing it as "too much abuse."
Indignation also pointed directly at the regime. "The rulers know that with a minimum wage or a pension, you can't buy anything to eat. They know this, and I am sure they see the social media and read the comments. The people can't take any more of this misery," said a user.
Another commentator was more emphatic: "The leaders only know how to talk about resistance. Where is that resistance when there is no water, we've been months without electricity, and on top of that, we have to find ways to eat? Here, you either die or have a heart attack."
At the beginning of November, Cuban Bárbaro Miranda Hernández went viral with a video showing a pumpkin priced at 2,700 pesos, which is equivalent to 84% of the monthly minimum wage. In Camagüey, onions were reported at 400 pesos each; in Sagua de Tánamo, chicken reached 900 pesos per pound, and a dozen eggs cost 3,500 pesos.
The gap between prices and income is enormous. The Cuban minimum wage, set at 3,210 pesos since July 2026, is insufficient in light of the constant price increases due to inflation. This Friday, November 6, 2026, the dollar reached 928 pesos in the informal market. An economist estimated in July that covering the basic needs of a single person requires around 96,000 pesos per month, about 30 times that minimum wage.
The regime launched in August the so-called "neighborhood markets", promising prices 15% to 30% lower than the informal market, but Cubans are reporting that in practice these establishments also charge unattainable prices.
"This government has left the people adrift. There are many people suffering from hunger in every aspect of life. They are slowly killing us, and the problems remain unresolved: many measures have been taken, but we are still the same or worse," commented another Cuban about the prices.
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