There are economic crises that are measured in inflation, exchange rates, or shortages in markets, but there are others that get so deep into everyday life that they end up becoming viral jokes or, rather, exact x-rays of our daily tragedy.

​Osval's brilliant cartoon illustrates this to perfection: in the middle of a wedding ceremony, facing the solemn question of "Do you take this man to be your husband?", the bride responds with total mercantile naturalness: "If it's in cash, yes; it's just that I work at a MSME and they told me not to accept transfers".

​Although it brings a bitter smile to our faces, deep down it puts on the table an asphyxiating reality that we all suffer in Cuba today:

​1. Cash: A Good Scarcier Than Gold

​Nowadays, getting cash on the island has become an odyssey of empty ATMs, long lines under the sun, and abusive commissions in the informal market. Cash is coveted because many businesses or economic actors, under pressure to restock or bypass restrictions, find themselves in the imperative need to operate with physical liquidity.

​2. The Funnel Law: When the State Demands What It Complicates

​The most frustrating part of this economic puzzle is the absolute lack of institutional coherence. While the State demands that MSMEs and small businesses accept digital payments, when it comes to restocking and buying goods from the state sector itself, they often run into a brick wall: they are demanded cash or imposed rigid payment conditions that contradict the mandatory banking process being preached. The funnel law in its maximum expression.

​3. When the Economy Invades Personal Life

​What the cartoon portrays with such irony is how the economic crisis has colonized every corner of existence. It is no longer just about figuring out how to solve lunch or daily transportation; financial survival has become so absorbing that it conditions even the most intimate responses. If the trend continues this way, soon we will sign courtship contracts with monetary exclusivity clauses or ask for an advance in physical foreign currency just to be able to say "I do."

​In the end, graphic humor becomes the truest mirror of our reality. As we Cubans well say, we laugh so as not to cry in a country where even getting married seems to require a cash register authorization and a homologation stamp.

​💬 What about you? Have you found yourself in the odyssey of searching for cash amidst the current crisis? How do you cope with the rejection of transfers in businesses?