By Dave Sherwood
HAVANA (Reuters) -Cuba on Thursday alleged that U.S.-funded media outlet El Toque was manipulating Cuba’s informal exchange rate to foment unrest on the island at a time when a plummeting peso has sent prices soaring.
Cuba called the black market exchange, calculated and published in real time by El Toque on its website, a “farce.” The benchmark rate has fluctuated wildly in the past several weeks but is again approaching a record high, wiping out the paltry spending power of most Cubans in a fast-dollarizing economy.
Cuba’s Communist-run government cited publicly available documents in the United States to show that El Toque and its editor-in-chief, Jose Jasan Nieves, had received U.S. funding and alleged they were “profiting by destabilizing Cuba.”
EL TOQUE: U.S. FUNDING DOES NOT INFLUENCE REPORTING
Jasan Nieves told Reuters in a written response to the allegations that El Toque receives U.S. State Department grants “to promote access to information in Cuba and to support the U.S. embassy in Havana in implementing public diplomacy programs.”
He denied, however, that the funding had any impact on El Toque’s reporting, noting that the outlet also receives funding from private donors, companies, foundations and entities in Europe.
“None of those relationships influence our editorial line,” Jasan said.
He rejected Cuba’s claims the group had “subversive” intentions or was promoting mercenary or terrorism-related activity.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said Cuba’s allegations were “absurd,” saying the island’s government was “attempting to deflect from its incompetence and failed economic policies.”
Cuba maintains that the informal exchange rate published by El Toque on Thursday at 460 pesos to the dollar, versus the dual official rates of 24 or 120 to 1, is manipulated by U.S.-funded interests and aims to wreak economic chaos on the island.
Independent observers say Cuba’s economic woes stem from a decades-long U.S. trade embargo, a mismanaged state-run economy and an unrealistic official exchange rate.
The Trump administration expressed concerns over U.S. funding of media outlets this year and slashed funds for many outlets for Cuban news. El Toque in March said 50% of its 2025 budget had been affected by those cuts and asked readers for donations.
Some U.S. funding to Cuba-related media outlets has since been reinstated.
(Reporting by Dave SherwoodEditing by Rod Nickel)
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