Nearly 30,000 Cubans have flown to the Venezuelan island to shop since the program was launched
14ymedio, Havana, 27 February 2025 — Margarita has become one of the favored destinations for Cubans. The numbers are already incontestable: almost 30,000 people have traveled from the Island since a program was created in 2022 to encourage commercial tourism in the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta.
The data was released on Wednesday by the Venezuelan Ministry of Tourism, which applauded the fact that the local airport, Santiago Mariño, received more than a thousand travelers between February 17 and 23 of this year alone. Of these, 224 were Cubans and 709 Polish, the two nationalities with the most travelers in total, with 29,324 and 20,703, respectively. Trinidad and Tobago, with 11,394, is the third nationality.
The program has undoubtedly been a commercial success for the Venezuelan government. In the first year alone, Cubans spent around 17 million dollars there to “purchase various items,” said the president of the Nueva Esparta Chamber of Commerce, José Gregorio Rodríguez, who estimated that there were 5,000 visitors from the island since August 2023. The success was such that the organizers decided to start chartering cargo planes to increase the volume of purchases by passengers.
In the first year alone, Cubans spent around 17 million dollars there to “purchase different items,” said the president of the Nueva Esparta Chamber of Commerce.
But there is another party that profits from this obvious business for Cuban mules and that is the Havana regime. Travel packages to Margarita Island are managed by Cubatur and the Gira Agency, which is also represented on the island by the state-owned company. To no one’s surprise, the trips, which until mid-2024 were sold in national currency and foreign currency, have become available exclusively in dollars. In addition, in just one month, prices have risen from $610 in January to $860 announced for this February. In March, the price will be close to $700.
“At the Habana Libre, tickets to [Margarita] Island can be paid for in dollars in cash,” reported an agency employee on the Telegram channel set up for the occasion. There are more than 2,700 people subscribed to this network where commercial advertising invades the screen and complicates the lives of those who are only looking for information.
“We are waiting for you at Nirvana Intima with the best prices and the best service on the island,” announces a company with dozens of photos of underwear. “We offer you the best prices and quality in Paraná,” says another. “Novelties Nina, with the best price on soft drinks on the island,” promotes another company. Shoes, sandals, sweaters, 43-inch televisions, Redmi phones for 110 dollars, cables of all kinds and solar plants…” The bazaar is huge and the possibilities of purchasing items and reselling them on the Island are very attractive.
According to data from the Venezuelan Minister of Tourism in 2023, Cubans spent 5,000 dollars in Margarita, although the president of the Chamber of Commerce lowered the amount to 3,400. Today, many of these travelers estimate the amount needed to be around 3,000. “It all depends on the amount of luggage you are going to bring and the merchandise you buy, obviously not everything has the same price. On my first trip I packed everything: six suitcases, two with toiletries, food and medicine, and four with miscellaneous items. I needed about 2,900 dollars,” says one mule .
“On my first trip I packed everything: six suitcases, two with toiletries, food and medicine, and four with miscellaneous items. I needed about 2,900 dollars”
Customs allows the free importation without limits of food, medicines and toiletries, something that travelers are very aware of, but – they know – it is very important not to mix products. “If you mix medicines, toiletries, soft drinks, there are no problems. What you cannot do is mix a single product, if they declare it as commercial,” recommends a regular, although there is not always an Official Gazette to cling to. “They are only allowing five kilos per product. The rest is up to the customs officer on duty.”
Travel packages in national currency, which once cost around 114,500 pesos and were already difficult to find, are history, but there are still some options to pay in MLC. However, some buyers say that achieving this is almost a miracle. “Are there no more offers in MLC?” asked one buyer to the agency. “Yes, but the POS (for card payment) has been broken for a long time,” they replied. The price does not include the special visa for purchases, which at the beginning of the program cost 30 dollars and has risen to 50.
That price is the same as what Panama demands to enter the Colon Free Zone, one of the destinations with which Margarita competes, but which remains the preferred destination for Cubans – even more so since the violence in Haiti has cornered that market. The latest available data, from the first quarter of 2024, indicate that 4,172 buyers from the Island arrived in Colon.
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