Banks make retirement payments with mountains of worn-out bills that the shops reject
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 8 August 8, 2024 — “We don’t accept ten-peso bills,” warns a merchant on Galiano Street, in Havana, to a customer who extends 30 ten-peso banknotes to pay for a container of descaling liquid for bathrooms. “Later we can’t use them; that’s why we only take 100 pesos and up,” the seller concludes with a gesture of displeasure. The face on the paper that the buyer waves is no small thing, no more and no less than one of the patricians of national independence, Máximo Gómez. With a controversial past in his native Dominican Republic, the warrior ended up becoming one of the main faces of Cuba in arms against Spain, and he earned the designation of “Generalísimo.”
Now, just by seeing his image printed on a banknote, merchants know that the ten-peso bill has little value and many associated complications. “Do you see anything here that costs ten pesos?” asks an entrepreneur in a didactic tone, indicating his stock of pizzas, beers and cookies on Ayestarán Street. The merchant argues with a customer who wants to give him 20 Máximo Gómez bills for a purchase.
If in the past the one or five cent coins were considered small change destined for religious offerings and children’s piggy banks, now the bar has risen
“It’s just that those bills are very mistreated and they all stick together,” argues the merchant, barricaded behind bars that surround the entire portal of an old house converted into a passing bar and cafeteria. Even without a place to sit, the cafeteria takes in thousands of pesos every hour. Located in an area of confluence between two municipalities, it has “the cheapest prices in Havana for beer, soft drinks and juices,” boasts the man behind the counter.
Precisely because he isn’t short of customers, the proprietor can afford certain rules when it comes to paying. “Bills in good condition; we don’t accept anything under 50 pesos, and before electronic payment, it’s better to have cash i
