El Toque’s Role in the ‘Media Dollar’ in Cuba

An economy with exchange restrictions or limited access to foreign currencies, vibrant informal markets, a digital space for the constant collection and dissemination of data, the daily need for reference by buyers and sellers… In this context, a web platform can act as the reference medium that, day after day, establishes a representative currency rate (in real time), as a balance between local and foreign currencies, until it dominates the perception of the real value. The result of this equation is something that transcends the economy: the media dollar.

What is the meaning of this expression? Although it is not registered by a recognized creator, the term comes from economic manuals to describe real phenomena in contexts of crisis and/or disinformation. With a mark in political and communicative discourse, the media dollar focuses on the role of the media as constructors of economic reality.

This concept is used to indicate that the price of the dollar disseminated in a certain media has been “constructed” or “manipulated” with political, economic or pressure/destabilization intentions, beyond market dynamics that are based on the regulated interaction between supply and demand.

For example, in Cuba, the value of the dollar in the informal market is determined by the web page El Toque. This platform, based outside of the country and financed by international organizations that supposedly promote independent journalism (Open Society Foundation and the National Endowment for Democracy, NED), publishes a daily exchange rate calculated from unofficial data.

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The “logic” of the “media dollar”
The process has three main stages. The first consists of the collection of informal data. At this point, the digital platform collects prices published by users on internet sites and digital networks. From this, an average is calculated. The result is published, on a daily or constant basis, as if it were the “real” value of the dollar in the market.

In the second stage, a systematic pattern is established. As it is repeated every day, the figure in question gains legitimacy among internet users. Both sellers and buyers consult the reference table, including the informal rate calculator, before formalizing their transactions. As time goes by, the numbers go beyond the tabular relationship and become the main source of the exchange rate for most of the informal or irregular economy, “invisible” to the state.

The third phase takes on a superior character: control over the exchange rate. Here, the platform that publishes “the rate” no longer only reflects, informs, or communicates the market behavior (with a supposed frame in reality) but also directs it. This fact can cause the dollar to go up or down by simply adjusting the published figure. Meanwhile, with just a click or a touch, the direct effects on domestic prices, inflation, and the general perception of the value of the Cuban peso come into play.

From a guide to a reference tool
If a statistical study is made on the most visited websites from Cuba, the home page of El Toque should have a decent position. Everyday, it seems that the “limits” between informing, influencing, and controlling are getting blurred. This media no longer only informs about the price of the dollar, it symbolically produces it and imposes it on society.

Of course, this media went from a simple information issuer to serve as a practical and functional reference of the value of the dollar (and its counterparts, including cryptocurrencies) in the informal market. In the current Cuban context, El Toque has become a financial institution inasmuch as it not only tells how much the dollar is worth but also conditions how the domestic, community, and national economy should be thought of.

The visible devaluation of the local currency, the uncertainty before the rise or fall (with red or green signals), and the abandonment of the official exchange rate: the narrative, reinforced every day based on numbers, configures a perception of reality that may be more influential than the Cuban state’s own monetary policy.

In Cuba, the informal exchange rate reached 385 CUP per dollar this July 9, 2025, according to El Toque, which raises import costs and domestic prices.

The influence of the medium in the Cuban economy is significant. Its representative rate of the informal market (TRMI), presented as a reflection of the market, has been criticized by the Cuban government as an instrument that amplifies inflation and devaluation.

The reliance on unverified data and the lack of external audits fuel these criticisms. In a context of crisis, where the informal market defines access to essential goods, El Toque transcends the information sphere and raises questions about its role in generating economic instability.

 

 

(Telesur)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/SC/SL