Cash and Choice in Cuba

Cuba’s government is restricting cash use in a bid to ‘force businesses and citizens to use electronic payments.’ The move is proving unpopular with citizens for whom banknotes in hand bring choice, privacy and personal control over their finances, and thus their lives.

France 24 reports that over the coming months into early 2024, the government will limit cash payments to 5,000 pesos (around $200) with the goal of driving people towards cashless payments that will offer it greater power to regulate the flow of money through the nation’s economy. Such limitations transfer what economic power people possess—with cash usable by anyone to pay for any good or service—to higher authorities, whose priorities may be quite different to that of the individual.

Existing limits on cash withdrawals have resulted in longer lines at ATMs, encouraging people to hold and use larger amounts of cash to avoid banks whenever possible.

Cashless payments are not currently well supported, with internet access unreliable and many people lacking the smartphones required for contactless payment. France 24 notes Central Bank President Joaquin Alonso recently acknowledged ‘there are few terminals for card payments.’

With cash comes the option to pay anonymously, free from interference or tracking by third parties. When paying cashless, additional organisations must be involved in a transaction to provide authorisation, and all associated data—what was purchased, when, where and by whom—is logged. Beyond the obvious privacy, security and surveillance risks, cashless payments also open opportunities for direct intervention in a transaction, potentially limiting or even disallowing it should the third party so choose.

For Cuba’s near future, the added restrictions on cash are expected by many to make citizens’ lives more difficult in an extremely challenging economy.