To avoid fines, private businesses stop selling products with capped prices, while State-run dollar stores are not subject to the same rules.
14ymedio, Havana, Darío Hernández, February 23, 2026 – Alejandro, owner of a small private business in Regla, has been fined 40,000 pesos in less than a week. His “little market” was one of the few businesses in the area that still dared to sell essential goods—chicken, cooking oil, sausage, powdered milk, pasta, and detergent—which, since July 2024, have had “agreed-upon” prices; that is, capped, but which the current crisis makes impossible to maintain.
“Last week, people came from all over the municipality looking for oil, because it’s not sold anywhere. I had it at 1,300 pesos per liter, and its capped price is 990. But how am I supposed to sell it for that, if suppliers charge me an even higher price?” says Alejandro, who prefers to use another name for this report.
The price of a dollar on the informal foreign exchange market did not exceed 400 pesos when the Government imposed, more than a year and a half ago, this limit on six products it considered essential. Today, while the dollar now surpasses 500 pesos on the unofficial market and the Central Bank of Cuba sets the rate above 460 pesos, the resolution to control prices, far from benefiting the population, has encouraged corruption and shortages in businesses.
“They’re expensive products, but at least I had them. Let’s see where people will find cooking oil at 990 now. That doesn’t exist”
“I made the decision to stop selling any price-capped products, like the rest of the businesses. Beer and snacks: that’s how I get those mafiosos off my back. I get screwed, but so do the people. They’re expensive products, but at least I had them. Let’s see where people will find cooking oil at 990 now. That doesn’t exist,” Alejandro says angrily.
His decision, he explains, comes after four inspections in one week. “The Municipal Inspection Directorate came, Hygiene, Finance and Prices… and they all fine you for the same thing: the capped prices, the profit margin, and so on. The worst part is that two and even three inspectors show up together, and you have to give each one their cut. That’s another thing: you give them something, whether cash or products, so they give you the 8,000-peso fine instead of the 16,000- or 32,000-peso fine. I swear I feel defenseless, at the mercy of a gang of mafiosos. My business right now is ‘in check’ because of them.”
The Administration Council of Plaza de la Revolución, boasting of its “zero tolerance for indiscipline and illegalities,” a few days ago published on its Facebook profile a fine imposed on a business for 383,000 pesos. Among the violations mentioned were failing to display prices to the public, overcharging, and lacking cost sheets and the required paperwork for commercial activity. The post included photos of some of the business’s prices, where cooking oil could be seen priced at 1,000 pesos. Most of the comments, in a joking tone, asked where that small business was located, since its prices were lower than the current market.
“My theory is that those people live in a parallel reality. Who can afford those prices right now? Either they’re disconnected from everything—which I don’t believe, because later you see them buying the same oil and sausage at 500 pesos—or they’re cynical and have normalized that level of shamelessness,” says Alejandro.
In a note published this Monday by Invasor, the provincial newspaper of Ciego de Ávila, the author reports that in many cases the shopkeeper openly admits that the posted price is only to pretend compliance with regulations, but if you actually want the product, you have to pay more.
Meanwhile, something very different happens in state-run dollar supermarkets, such as 3rd and 70th or Casalinda. There, a liter of cooking oil can cost as much as 3.55 dollars, which, at either the official or informal exchange rate, far exceeds the imposed cap. “What are inspection institutions for? To help the population or to sideline and control private businesses?” exclaims Alejandro. “They forget that with this ‘zero tolerance’ policy, very soon there will be nothing left to control.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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