El Toque, a Cuban platform, defends publishing its Representative Informal Market Currency Exchange Rate amid accusations of fueling inflation. Author Eloy Viera Cañive argues that such criticisms reflect cognitive dissonance, as the government upholds an unrealistic official rate of 1 USD to 120 Cuban pesos. The piece highlights the Cuban regime's lack of transparency instead.
In an opinion piece published on Havana Times, Eloy Viera Cañive explores the concept of cognitive dissonance, coined by U.S. psychologist Leon Festinger in 1957, to explain reactions to Cuba's economic crisis. Viera argues that those attributing shortages of electricity, water, food, and transportation solely to the U.S. embargo or leaders' errors overlook the socialist model imposed for decades, the bureaucracy, and the Communist Party defending it.
Viera particularly criticizes accusations against El Toque for publishing its Representative Informal Market Currency Exchange Rate, updated constantly. 'It must be very hard to believe that El Toque is responsible for the inflation, and – at the same time – check the site of the Cuban Central Bank and see that it says that 1 US dollar is equivalent to 120 Cuban pesos,' he writes. Then try to buy dollars at that rate from banks or Cadeca, the government's money exchange offices, and be told none are available.
The author stresses that El Toque does not manipulate prices but transparently reflects market evolution, both upward and downward. Its methodology is public and auditable, even by institutions like the University of Havana. 'Our rate has become “The” rate, not because we say so, but only because it is the closest and most reliable reflection of the market reality that exists in Cuba today,' Viera states.
This contrasts with the unrealistic official rate: at the K Tower hotel building, it's exchanged at 1:370. El Toque rejects campaigns like 'No El Toque!' and accuses some critics of projection or complicity with the regime. Despite flaws in its offer-based method, not actual transactions, they insist on its value in informing citizens amid the government's informational void.
Viera concludes that blaming El Toque does not solve the crisis: 'If we disappear tomorrow... your problem, your family’s problem, and your country’s problem will still be there.' The article, originally in Spanish by El Toque, was translated and posted in English by Havana Times on October 28, 2025.