MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban Government will introduce changes to the duty-free import policy for food, toiletries and medicines in the coming months, according to reported the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, during the most recent session of the National Assembly of People’s Power.
The measure, in force since the summer of 2021, aimed to facilitate the population’s access to basic products that are scarce in the domestic market. However, Marrero Cruz stated that “there are many distortions associated with this measure that was applied so that people and families could bring food and medicine tax-free.”
“This has become a source for unscrupulous people who, in this way, bring merchandise to sell at speculative prices directly or through social networks themselves,” said the ruler.
The regulations that authorize the tax exemption, regulated by the Resolution 311/2024 of the Ministry of Finance and Pricesis located in his ninth extension and will be valid until January 31, 2025. Even so, the prime minister pointed out that “in the coming months” this activity will be “reorganized, always protecting the population and, above all, sensitive issues such as medications, which “No measure will be applied in this regard.”
In March of this year, the head of Cuban Customs, Nelson Cordovés Reyes, publicly warned about “inappropriate behavior of travelers,” due to the increase in seizures from people who, taking advantage of free importation, bring “large volumes of these merchandise for the purpose of marketing.”
He also specified: “It is a call to people to comply with the regulations, to not commit violations, since this is a measure that was approved in complex situations in the country, so that people could have access to medicines, food, hygiene, but not for it to be used as a way to import these products in significant volumes, for marketing.”
