Cuba on Thursday accused El Toque, a U.S.-funded digital media outlet, of engaging in “economic terrorism” by manipulating the island’s informal exchange rate at a time when the peso’s collapse has fuelled soaring prices and deepened public frustration.
The Communist-led government dismissed the black-market exchange rate, tracked and updated in real time on El Toque’s website, as a “farce,” alleging it was artificially inflated to provoke social instability.
The informal rate published Thursday stood at 460 pesos per dollar, compared with Cuba’s dual official rates of 24 or 120 pesos per dollar. The rapidly widening gap has eroded ordinary Cubans’ purchasing power amid an accelerating shift toward a dollarized economy.
Authorities accused El Toque and its editor-in-chief, José Jasán Nieves, of receiving U.S. funding to destabilize the country, pointing to publicly available U.S. documents they say show a financial link to U.S. government programs.
They claimed the outlet was “profiting by destabilizing Cuba” and using exchange-rate reporting as a political tool.
In a written response to Reuters, Jasán Nieves acknowledged receiving U.S. State Department grants intended to “promote access to information in Cuba” and support public diplomacy programs, but firmly rejected allegations that such funding influenced the outlet’s reporting.
He said El Toque also receives financial support from private donors, companies, foundations and European organizations.
“None of those relationships influence our editorial line,” Jasán said, dismissing Havana’s accusations of “subversive” or terrorism-related intentions.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson also rejected Cuba’s claims, calling them “absurd” and accusing the Cuban government of attempting to “deflect from its incompetence and failed economic policies.”
Independent economists say Cuba’s deepening crisis stems less from media reporting and more from decades of economic mismanagement, the long-standing U.S. trade embargo and an unrealistic official exchange rate that has pushed citizens and businesses into the parallel market.
El Toque has become one of the most widely referenced sources for Cuba’s informal exchange rate, which plays a central role in everyday transactions as shortages worsen and inflation accelerates.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration raised concerns over U.S. funding for foreign media operations and cut budgets for several Cuba-focused outlets.
El Toque said in March that those cuts affected 50% of its 2025 budget, prompting an appeal for public donations. Some of that funding has since been restored.
The Cuban government, however, insists that the fluctuating and increasingly divergent black-market rate reflects manipulation rather than market forces, and accuses U.S.-backed actors of seeking to “wreak economic chaos” on the island.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
