Many Cubans are interested in ways to get dollars and euros in cash. How can they do it on the island?
The reality is that the value of these currencies is continuously increasing in the informal market of Cuba. In January 2024, the euro is projected to be exchanged above 270 Cuban pesos, while the US dollar is already close to that figure.
Additionally, the banking process implemented in Cuba has increased many people’s distrust of financial institutions and a fear of depositing both their local and foreign currency for fear of not being able to access their money later.
In this scenario, most remittance platforms to Cuba make transfers online and beneficiaries can only access that financial assistance through virtual dollar cards (called MLC cards on the island), which only work in the country and their exchange. The rate is very low.
As is known, the request to distribute the funds sent to Cuba from the United States to Cuba through Western Union (WU) could not be fulfilled in US dollars. WU, the remittance giant, transfers currency directly to MLC accounts at Metropolitano, BPA and BANDEC banks.
Get Dollars and Euros in Cuba
In this regard, WU’s partner in Cuba, the company ORBIT, informed Cubans that the only option they had to collect cash was “to request it from the bank, depending on their availability.” But we already know that this option is almost unfeasible. After many years, those who have certificate of deposit They are still waiting for their foreign currency.
For all these reasons, many Cubans prefer to continue sending money to the island through family and friends, although more and more people negotiate all types of exchanges and transfers.
For example, in Spain, it is common to find advertisements in Facebook groups where commissions are charged for transfers through Bizum, or other agreements are made, and in Cuba cash euros are distributed to beneficiaries.
“I give USD in Havana for Euro in Spain, 1 for 1”; “I need 300 Euros here in Havana or the exchange rate in CUP, I pay it through Bizum”; “I buy 200 euros for bizam for 270 in Havana, I have references,” are some of the most recent publications in Cuban groups in Spain.
From the United States, since Cubans are the second largest group of visitors to the American island, similar businesses are often carried out. The most common payment methods are Zelle or PayPal.
Those who live on the island often prefer to take their chances with these more informal options, in order to get the currency in hand more quickly and be able to control it.