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Important notice regarding recent monetary changes in Cuba.

Since november 8th, 2004, the US dollar is no longer accepted in Cuba as before. Instead, the Cuban Convertible peso is the only accepted currency to purchase goods and services in every place where the US dollar was formerly accepted.

How can a tourist or any Cuban acquire/purchase these Cuban Convertible pesos in Cuba?

If you have US dollars, you can purchase Cuban Convertible pesos at the exchange rate 1:0,9 . Hence a 10% fine is imposed to the amount in US dollars that you want to exchange. This means that $10 US dollars equals to $9 Cuban Convertible pesos.

If you have any other currency such as Canadian Dollars, Euros, Pound Sterling, you can continue exchanging that currency into Cuban Convertible pesos at the current US dollar exchange rate in any Bank and hence be able to acquire goods and services with these Cuban Convertible pesos. The exchange rate that will be applied will be the current Bank exchange rate between the US dollar and the currency you provide. This way, instead of US dollars, you will receive Cuban Convertible pesos.

The above mentioned currency exchanges, can be carried out in any Bank within the Cuban territory, any CADECA exchange desk and also in the various International Airports in Cuba.
CADECA is the name of the government official exchange offices where you can exchange the different currencies. They are widely available in Cuba. CADECA here means "Casa De Cambio" in Spanish.

The prices in Cuba for goods and services, formerly payed in US dollars, will remain the same but must be paid with Cuban Convertible pesos. As said, this started on november 8th, 2004. The prices of the private homes will also remain the same and only Cuban Convertible pesos will be accepted as well. For this reason, the prices shown in our web site corresponding to US dollars, actually mean Cuban Convertible pesos.

On the other hand, the Cuban pesos, which are different from the Cuban Convertible pesos, will continue circulating and will be valid to purchase the goods and services that are provided (mostly for Cubans) and that are priced in Cuban pesos. The current exchange rate between the Cuban Convertible peso and the Cuban peso remains 1:26. With 1 Cuban Convertible Peso you can get 26 Cuban Pesos in any CADECA exchange desk.

We strongly discourage exchanging any currency with Cubans in the street in order to avoid being cheated. You will not be the first one who, being told by a malicious Cuban that the "Cuban pesos" are required to rent a car in Cuba, find your self exchanging $300 US dollars into 300 Cuban pesos (Cuban pesos are different from the Cuban Convertible pesos) . When this Cuban vanishes, and you unsuccesfully try to rent your car with these 300 Cuban pesos, you will realise that your initial $300 US had become less than $12 US because the exchange rate between US dollars and the Cuban peso is 1:26.

To summarize: US dollars are no longer valid for payment in Cuba since Nov 8, 2004.
If you are planning a trip to Cuba, don´t bring US dollars as they will no longer be accepted to directly purchase goods and services here. Be aware that if you do so and bring US dollars, a fine of 10% will be imposed when exchanging these into Cuban Convertible pesos at any Bank or CADECA desk.
Instead, we strongly encourage you to bring other currencies such as Canadian Dollars, Euros or Pound Sterling. Once here you will be able to exchange these other currencies into Cuban Convertible pesos at the current exchange rate of the US dollar in the Airport upon arrival or later in any Bank or CADECA desk in the Island. This way you will avoid the 10% fine that is imposed to those having US dollars. This is important to know as you will not even be able to pay the Taxi from the Airport without Cuban Convertible pesos.

You will be able to re-exchange back the remaining of your Cuban Convertible pesos to either Canadian Dollars, Euros, Pound Sterling, etc, anytime or just before your departure in the Airport. In that case, the exchange rate that will be applied to your Cuban Convertible pesos will be the same rate between the US dollar dollar and the Canadian Dollars, the Euro, or the Pound Sterling in each case, just as if you were providing US dollars. This means that if you provide, let´s say 100 Cuban Convertible pesos and you request Euros because you are going back to Spain, you will receive 130 EUR because the exchange rate between the US dollar and Euro is 1:1.30 .
Note there will be no 10% refund when you re-exchange back your Cuban Convertible pesos into US dollars so you will receieve the same amount of US dollars as Cuban Convertible pesos you provide. Hence you will not get back the 10% that was imposed to your US dollars, if it was the case that you brought US dollars to Cuba.

The payments issued to the homeowners for the renting services in their private homes, must be paid in Cuban Convertible pesos after November 8, 2004 as well.

We have prepared a page with photos of the most common notes of Cuban Convertible pesos so you can start getting familiar with them. Please click here to see these photos of the Cuban Convertible pesos.

Disclaimer: The above text is for informational purposes only. Havana Rentals is not responsible for any lose or damage derivated from the information provided here.

If you have any question or comment regarding this article, please contact us.

Havana Rentals.
November 20, 2004.

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