Update March 2025: The Cuban economy and living conditions

Tim Anderson reports from Cuba on worsening deprivation due to the renewed US blockade under Trump’s second term, which is severely impacting food, medicine, and economic recovery efforts.

By early 2025, Cubans were once again suffering extreme deprivation since at least the COVID crisis (2020-2022), which, combined with restrictions imposed by the first Trump presidency, killed the tourist economy. This current deprivation follows the deep crisis of the 1990s, after the collapse of economic agreements with the Soviet bloc. Since the 1990s, there were a couple of waves of economic improvement: first in 2005-2006, when the benefits of the ALBA ‘doctors for oil’ exchange with Venezuela were felt, and then again in 2016-2018, when the limited openings from President Obama led to a brief boom in tourism (with up to 5 million tourists per year, prior to the COVID pandemic).

The current deprivations include lack of food and medicine and repeated power cuts, including from nationwide blackouts. These problems are exacerbated by inflation and currency instability, which has reduced purchasing power. A dual currency system is currently being re-introduced (with many imports being processed in foreign currency). Average salaries (converted to dollars) are between $10 and $20 per month, there are serious shortages on the ration booklet (libretta), and most local prices have risen. Emigration persists, particularly amongst youth, but with rates declining in recent years.

There is an urgent short-term need for relief from these deprivations, all of which stem from the US blockade – now intensified by a new set of measures from the second Trump administration that increasingly target third parties attempting to cooperate with Cuba.

The US blockade under Trump’s second administration includes these measures:

https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/opinion/update-march-2025–the-cuban-economy-and-living-conditions