The Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) dismissed this Monday the news about an alleged sale of US dollars and Freely Convertible Currency (MLC) to the population, disclosed in recent days through social networks.
Through its Twitter profile, the island’s highest banking authority denied the veracity of the information circulated after the alleged publication in the Official Gazette of Cuba of a supposed resolution of the Cuban Government to start the sale of Dollars and MLC with the aim of curbing the inflation.
In addition, in this same channel of institutional communication, the BCC advised the population “not to be fooled” and to follow the official channels of the banking entity in case of any doubt.
? We deny for the second time this false news that circulates on social networks and digital media ?
??Don’t be fooled, follow our official channels❗️#CentralBank25YearsWithYou#CubanBankers@marta_wilson @mayobrebcc @AlinoKaterine @RosaCantillo8 @maxsilence pic.twitter.com/UMHsYFoYqX— Central Bank of Cuba (@BancoCentralCub) May 30, 2022
The false documents pointed out that the measure was intended to “end the crisis unleashed in Cuba due to the excessive and uncontrollable increase in the US dollar”, for which it was reported that the authorities had decided to “sell each citizen a limited amount of US dollars in cash (USD) and Freely Convertible Currency (MLC), at the favorable price of 24.00 (CUP), considering that it is essential to stop the circulation of said currency illegally”.
He also pointed out that the sale of foreign currency would begin on June 5 “quickly and effectively as part of the monetary order.”
Before the BCC issued the clarification, the journalist from the Cuban Television Information System, Lázaro Manuel Alonso, had warned about the falsity of what was published.
The communicator drew attention to the fact that those who generated this fake news “They take advantage of the words of the Minister of Economy and Planning in the National Assembly, Alejandro Gil, when he reported the sale of MLC to suppliers as an economic perspective.”
Alonso, who usually addresses sensitive issues for current Cuban society in his work and is considered an official spokesperson, stressed in his publication that “this sale, when the country has the financial conditions to do so (a matter that will not be in the short term) , it will be done selectively for those actors that generate goods for the population, both in the state and private sectors”.
This is not the first time that information of this type has gone viral in recent months. Last January, for example, the Casa de Cambio (CADECA) denied an ad that circulated on the Internet about the sale of dollars, at the rate established by the BBC, to Cubans traveling abroad.
The difference on this occasion is that the news now denied was released in a context in which both the dollar and the MLC and the euro have lost value in the informal market, something to which these rumors have also very possibly contributed.
This fall, which has led the US dollar to fall below the barrier of 100 Cuban pesos (CUP), has not had an impact, however, at least until now, in a drop in the prices of basic products in the informal circuits themselves and , in the opinion of analysts, would also be associated with the recent announcements by the Biden Administration on US policy towards Cuba, which include the elimination of the limit on remittances and the increase in flights to the Island.
