| 21/01/2021 – 15:36 (GMT-4)
The exchange offices known as Cadeca in Cuba will only sell freely convertible currency (MLC) to citizens who are about to leave the country, said the president of that entity, Joaquín Alonso Vázquez.
In statements to Radio RebeldeThe official said Cadeca intends to maintain MLC’s buying and selling services, “but with a lack of tourism on the island,” the sales service will be offered only to those traveling abroad.
“With the drastic decrease in tourists arriving in the country, we have a drastic decrease in capacity to sell MLC, for this reason we had to focus only on sales to those passengers who are going abroad and who need to buy back; that is, to sell us the convertible pesos or pesos they bought when they came in, “he explained.
Alonso Vázquez also said that passengers will only sell up to a maximum of currencies equivalent to 300 CUC or 7,200 Cuban pesos, which translates into $ 288 at the official exchange rate and other currencies depending on the rate on which the bank manages on that day.
“While these six months of Sorting task, you can get 300 CUC, that we will buy CUC and with pesos we will give you the currency we have “, he commented.
“Sometimes there are customers who want dollars, but if we don’t have dollars at the moment, we have to give them euros,” the manager clarified.
The measure is similar to the one applied in 2015 in Venezuela, when the government restricted the currency amount to a preferential price that could be purchased to travel abroad, in an attempt to save some of its reduced dollar income after falling prices. oil.
In the case of Cuba, the strict control of the exchange in force responds to the decline in tourism and the crisis of the Cuban economic system, which is now trying to collect at any foreign exchange price.
The measure could increase the cost of the dollar on the black market by up to 8 times its value, as happened in Caracas or in the difficult years of the special period on the island.
In principle, the regime led by Miguel Díaz-Canel has opened dollar stores where it sells commodities that are rare in stores in the national currency, forcing Cubans who receive remittances to pay dollars.
Those who do not have the advantage of getting dollars have seen their living conditions deteriorate.
The situation worsened as a result of the implementation of the so-called command task on 1 January 2021, when the government salary increases on average 2.9 times, but increased the price of products and services between 5 and 13 times.
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