A young poet reflected in his verses what thousands of Cubans feel in the face of the relentless decline of the peso: "It hurts me deeply that the dollar rises more than hope," he expressed.
Noel defines himself as a rapper, improvisational poet, writer, and economist. He is known on Instagram with the username @rapentista_. His video about the rise in the price of the dollar in Cuba has garnered over 39,000 views and a hundred supportive comments for reflecting the economic distress on the Island.
"The dollar keeps rising, and who is helping it to rise? Could it be a sheikh or an emir? It's a coincidence; I don't understand. It goes up, and I feel that something is lacking, something is excessive. Unstable is the scale that is sacrificed in the present. It pains me greatly that the dollar rises higher than hope," says the poet.
The dollar in Cuba: one record after another
The dollar surpassed the barrier of 900 Cuban pesos in the informal market at the beginning of November, and on November 7, when the reel was shared, the US currency was trading between 933 and 935 pesos.
The purchasing power of Cubans is plummeting at an alarming rate. The dollar rose from 750 pesos at the end of September to 880 pesos at the end of October, an increase of 17.3% in just one month. The euro, for its part, reached 1,000 pesos on November 5th.
The figure takes on its true significance when compared to salaries. The average state salary in Cuba, according to the latest available official data from August 2026, is 7,354 pesos per month, equivalent to less than eight dollars at the current informal exchange rate.
The minimum wage, at 3,210 pesos, is less than four dollars, while the estimated basic basket amounts to around 96,000 pesos monthly: about 30 times that minimum.
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