The 170,000-participating group message is just one of many that have flourished in Cuba in recent years as Internet usage on the communist-ruled island has grown exponentially.
The so-called black market, the informal sale of everything from eggs to car parts, is a long-standing practice in crisis-hit Cuba, selling even the most basic items like milk, poultry, medicines and cleaning supplies. Access to specific items was always being done. Limited. Markets are technically illegal, but the degree of illegality in the official eyes depends on the type of item being sold and how it was obtained.
Before the advent of the internet, such interactions were “through contacts, neighbors and local communities,” said Ricardo Torres, a Cuban and economics fellow at American University in Washington. “But now we can reach out statewide through the internet.”
Torres said online markets “exploded” amid the worst supply shortages and economic turmoil in years.
A bustling WhatsApp group discusses an unofficial exchange rate that costs more pesos per dollar or euro than the official bank rate.
Meanwhile, Cuba’s version of Craigslist, on sites such as Revolico, the island’s first digital buying and selling tool, advertised everything from electric bikes imported from other countries to “capitalist apartments” in Havana’s affluent neighborhoods. ing.
Many products are sold in pesos, but higher value items are often denominated in dollars, and payment is processed in cash or international bank transfers.
Wealthier Cubans, or those with families sending money from abroad, can afford more luxurious items, but many basic items do not use their real names for fear of retaliation from the government. Not affordable for people like Leonardo, the national engineer who asked for it. .
Three months ago, Leonardo bought items such as inhalers, antibiotics and rash creams from a friend who had arrived from abroad and began reselling them online to make a small profit. Government officials have sharply criticized such “prostitutes” or resellers, especially those who buy products in Cuban stores and sell them at higher prices.
In late October, President Miguel Diaz-Canel announced called for a crackdown on practicecalling Avenger a “criminal, a fraud, a riff fluff, a lazy and corrupt one.”
“We cannot allow people who are not working, not contributing, and breaking the law to earn more and have the opportunity to live a better life than those who actually contribute. It means that there is,” he said. during meetings with government officials“If you did that…you would destroy the concept of socialism.”
But Leonardo said he and others like him were just trying to pull off.
“This drug will get to people who need it, people who have respiratory problems,” he said. “The people who use it are the ones who really need it. … Above all, they sell antibiotics.”
With the money he earned from sales, Leonardo was able to buy soap and food, antibiotics and vitamins for his elderly parents.
The rise of new digital marketplaces speaks to a particular brand of creative resilience that Cubans have built during decades of economic turmoil. Much of the crisis is the result of his 60-year trade ban on the island by the U.S. government, but critics also attribute it to the government’s poor economic management and reluctance to embrace the private sector. says.
As such, islanders tend to be very resourceful and use whatever is available. Think of the old cars of the 1950s still on the streets thanks to mechanics using ingenuity and spare parts to deal with the shortage of new cars.
Entrepreneurs have used the same creativity to deal with initially very limited internet access. Carlos Javier Peña and Hiram Centeles, Cuban expatriates living in Spain, founded Revolico in 2007 to “relieve the hardships of life in Cuba.”
The design of the site was kept simple like Craigslist and adapted to the island’s slow internet speeds. However, in 2008, when the government lifted the ban on selling personal computers, the government blocked his access to Revolico. This ban lasted him until 2016. Meanwhile, Peña and Centelles used digital tools and various host sites to bypass firewalls.
However, using the site was still a challenge for many given the lack of cellular internet.
As a college student in 2008, Heriberto gained access via a small monthly internet package provided by his school. Some even asked his friends and family to buy him items while he was at work.
Heribert, now 33, said, “The markets here often don’t have much of what you’re looking for.” Rely on Revolico.”
Sales on WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram really picked up in 2018 when Cubans gained internet access on their mobile phones. This is what his American University Fellow Torres described as a “game changer.”
Between 2000 and 2021, the number of Cubans using the internet increased from less than 1% of the population to 71%. International Telecommunication Union data indicate. The internet has been a lifeline for Heriberto and many other Cubans during the COVID-19 pandemic, they said.
Currently, the island’s main economic sector, tourism, is still recovering, and many businesses are expanding their businesses by selling both basic necessities such as medicines and many expensive specialty products online. is building. Heriberto recently used the site to sell mountain bikes priced in dollars.
Revolico co-founder Centelles says the site and tools like it have evolved to adapt to the ever-changing Cuba. For example, he said that sales of generators and rechargeable batteries have surged as the island has been hit by devastating power outages.
Government officials have said the internet is important to the country’s economic growth, but have “reluctantly accepted” it, said a senior data analyst at the Brookings Institution, which tracks internet usage in Cuba. said Valerie Villechafter.
“They couldn’t really control the Internet in many ways,” said Wirtschafter.
Perhaps the most visible example was when mass protests erupted in 2021 thanks to the rapid spread of communication on social media sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram. The government blocked many major social media and messaging sites for several days in an effort to stop the protests from spreading.
Leonardo says he sees selling on Telegram as a risk, but “ultimately, you need the drug, so you take that risk.”
Heriberto still uses Revolico, but says he now prefers sites that offer anonymity, such as Facebook. These sites allow him to sell using fake profiles, he said, as opposed to Revolico, which requires him to post his phone number.
“It’s now a basic necessity,” says Heriberto. “The Internet arrived in Cuba and is now basic.”
