Remittances in cash or food?: the dilemma of emigrants in a Cuba in crisis

In 48 hours, María Páez receives “relieved” in Havana the food that his children bought him in Miami by Internet. Forced by the crisis, Cubans choose to send food to their relatives instead of the vital cash remittances that the island needs.

“Receiving this type of products is a relief for us” and, “In terms of spending money, the savings are substantial”This 59-year-old Mathematics graduate, who has lived alone with her husband since her two children emigrated to the United States, tells AFP.

One hundred and twenty eggs, ground turkey, ham, chorizo, croquettes, yogurt… A manna that will allow you to make ends meet “without major tensions”he comments.

“It is extremely important that we get eggs (…), it is a guaranteed breakfast,” he adds with satisfaction.

On the island, which closed 2023 with an inflation of 30% and where the average salary is 4,800 pesos (US$40), a carton of 30 eggs can cost 3,300 pesos (US$27.50).

Food remittances

The difficulties of putting dollars in cash in the hands of their relatives have led Cubans abroad to opt for food remittances.

The transfer company Western Union, which recently resumed its operations towards Cuba, delivers the remittance in Cuban currency at the official rate of 120 pesos per dollar, well below the informal market rate of 360 pesos per greenback.

While the calls “mules”people who transfer dollars in cash to the island and deliver them to the recipients, impose commissions of up to twenty%.

“They don’t want money”

Currently, it is possible to send food and other essential products to family members through several dozen online platforms, based mainly in the United States, where more than two million Cubans live, but also in Mexico, Canada and Spain.

Katapulk, Supermarket23, Alawao, Tuambia, CBM… These digital stores proliferate on the internet as their potential markets grow, in the midst of a migratory exodus of Cubans that broke records in 2022 and 2023.

Every day dozens of vans with the logo of these virtual markets and private vehicles, hired by these firms, travel the streets of the country distributing food packages that have exorbitant prices in small businesses on the island authorized by the government only in 2021 and better. supplied than state stores.

The products that make up the shipments can be purchased locally or abroad.

On the other side of the Florida Strait, the 170 km of sea that separate Cuba from the coasts of the United States, dozens of agencies also operate that send food combos to the island.

In Hialeah, a city next to Miami with a high population of Cuban origin, Luis Manuel Méndez, 59, explains outside one of these companies that he usually sends medicine, school supplies and food to two children he left on the island.

“Things in Cuba are very expensive,” so ““It is much more feasible to buy it here and send it,” says Mendez.

My children “They don’t want money, what they want is for me to send them (…) basic necessities”, he adds.

A few blocks from the place, in front of another package agency, there is a constant coming and going of people carrying bags.

In the parking lot of that agency, Maribel Ruiz, 62, comments that she helps an aunt and cousins ​​she has in Cuba.

“The problem is that you send the money, but there are no things there in the store to buy (…). We have to send them packages of medicine, food, clothing, everything.”Ruiz specifies.

Plummeting remittances

Cuba, with 11.1 million inhabitants, faces an economic crisis unprecedented in three decades, with blackouts, shortages of food, medicine and fuel, due to the effects of the pandemic, the intensification of Washington sanctions and structural weaknesses. of its economy.

According to figures from Havana Consulting Group, a consulting firm based in Miami, remittances from the United States to Cuba reached a record figure of US$3.7 billion in 2019.

It is the second source of foreign currency for Cuba after the export of medical services and above tourism.

However, these remittances “they fell from US$ 2,040 million in 2022 to 1,972 million in 2023”says Cuban economist Emilio Morales, who chairs that consulting firm.

In view of “the shortage” and “the high prices of food in private businesses”the emigrants “They have preferred to invest large sums of money in getting families out.” of the island or “pay companies online” that they “Send a package to the door of the house”Morales specifies.

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