HAVANA (Reuters) – The Cuban government and independent news site El Toque traded blows this week after state-run media accused the site of manipulating the black market currency exchange rate to impoverish Cubans and spark unrest on the Caribbean island.
El Toque (eltoque.com) has angered the administration of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel by publishing a rate of the Cuban peso to the dollar well above the two official levels set by his government.
Cuba's state-run media this week escalated its longstanding criticism of El Toque, claiming that the site's currency-tracking software — the most widely used on the island — amounts to “financial terrorism.”
“El Toque is secretly funded by the United States and assigns a false value to the peso to the dollar,” said an article in state-run media outlet CubaDebate. He added, “The strategy aims to provoke (large-scale) protests in Cuba.”
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on these accusations.
The dispute over currency tracking comes as the Cuban peso has lost nearly half its value against the dollar in 2024 alone, according to El Toque, a devastating free fall that has reduced the purchasing power of Cubans already suffering from the economic crisis, inflation and supply shortages.
Cubans aspire to increasingly expensive dollars as a safe haven against currency shocks, as well as to migrate and buy food and fuel on an island increasingly dependent on the dollar.
El Talk defends the online exchange rate tracker, saying Cuba's claims, some of which could lead to criminal charges, according to state-run media, are “ridiculous and implausible.”
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“The Communist Party has decided to turn our platform, elToque, into a scapegoat to justify its failure,” Jose Gasan Nieves, editor-in-chief of Miami-based El Toque, said in an email to readers.
El Toque says it calculates the exchange rate by using artificial intelligence to scan messages posted online in which buyers and sellers state their intended buy or sell rates for various currencies.
Independent economists on and off the island said the rapid decline in the value of the peso had followed a crippling contraction in domestic production and exports, a ballooning fiscal deficit, and rising demand for scarce dollars.
The Cuban government promised months ago to take decisive measures to stop the peso's decline, but it has not yet announced new measures.
