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A 100-gram bar of soap sells for 600 pesos in Placetas, according to complaints gathered by CiberCuba
A 100-gram bar of activated charcoal soap costs 600 pesos in Placetas, Villa Clara, according to a complaint posted on Facebook and picked up by CiberCuba, with prices of 650 to 800 pesos reported by users elsewhere. The minimum wage is 3,210 pesos and the minimum pension 4,000.
A bar of activated charcoal soap weighing just 100 grams costs 600 pesos in Placetas, in the province of Villa Clara, according to a complaint posted on Facebook on Thursday by user Rubén Carrillo and picked up by CiberCuba. The post drew dozens of replies from users who said they paid similar or higher prices where they live.
In Camajuaní and Santa Clara users reported 700 pesos; in Cabaiguán, between 700 and 800; at the Manicaragua fair, 800; and in Las Tunas, 650. A Placetas resident said the local price ranges between 780 and 1,000 pesos. Other users reported equivalent prices in Havana.
The complaints were not confined to hygiene: participants described prices of between 500 and 700 pesos for a pound of rice, 500 pesos for beans, another 500 for sugar, between 2,500 and 3,000 pesos for a plate of spaghetti and 300 pesos for a pound of squash. "Between washing and eating, nobody can live in this country, we really are suffocating," a Placetas resident wrote.
The monthly minimum wage in Cuba is 3,210 pesos and the minimum retirement pension 4,000. The pressure on incomes coincides with cumulative inflation of 24.85% between January and September, according to the National Office of Statistics and Information; food accounted for 73.39% of the monthly change in the consumer price index in September.
In July the government launched its Mercados de Barrio program promising basic goods 15% to 30% cheaper. At one outlet in Plaza de la Revolución, according to the same report, bath soap sells for 530 pesos against a reference price of 600: a cut of 12%.
Sources: CiberCuba · Serie Yamacoa: Dólar en el mercado informal (elTOQUE (tasa representativa))
Data updated: 2026-11-08T04:15:00.000Z