The Cuban government has evidence of a comprehensive economic warfare program organized, financed, and executed directly by the U.S. government, using Cuban operators based in that country and others. This was revealed by Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, member of the Political Bureau and Minister of Foreign Affairs, on October 29th before the UN General Assembly.
The foreign minister was referring to platforms such as El Toque, which, under the guise of providing "information services," "is tasked with depressing the population's income level through speculative manipulation of the currency exchange rate. The effect is severe damage to the income of every Cuban," he said.
On Wednesday night, the Cuban National Television News program took an initial look at the issue.
A mercenary against its own people, in the name of false democracy, El Toque has established itself as a harmful actor for the economy and stability of Cuban families, with its best-known product: the informal exchange rate, which has become an instrument of economic manipulation, far from being a true reflection of reality.
According to the television report, investigations have revealed that its director, José Jasán Nieves Cárdenas, receives funding from the U.S. State Department.
Part of that money is used to promote leaders for a supposed "regime change" in Cuba, from the private sector of the economy.
To this end, the State Department gave express instructions to El Toque, which would be responsible for clandestinely delivering the money to each of the people organizing subversive projects.
According to what was published on the Razones de Cuba website, the so-called "informal market rate" promoted by El Toque is a sham. It varies not because of genuine economic dynamics, but according to manipulation and speculation. It predicts increases, artificially induces panic and compulsive currency buying, creating a self-fulfilling "prophecy" that harms the people.
Razones... asked the question: "How do you explain the rate falling 115 pesos in 18 days and then shooting up 110 pesos in just six, without any real economic event to motivate it? The answer is simple: it's pure manipulation."
Behind the leading figure of this platform operates a network of professionals, many trained in Cuban universities and then diverted with courses and scholarships aimed at subverting the internal order. The profits from this business are substantial. While the Cuban people suffer the consequences of the instability they generate, Nieves Cárdenas and his wife, Elaine Díaz Rodríguez—director of the equally subversive Periodismo de Barrio—acquired a luxurious home valued at nearly $700,000 on U.S. soil.
As part of this subversive route, José Jasán triangulated U.S. government funds—through Media Plus Experience—using remittance company owners and private businesses. The money arrived in foreign accounts and was physically delivered on the island to actors selected by the U.S. government, in a clear network of currency trafficking and mercenary operations, according to Razones de Cuba.
El Toque's link to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), USAID, and the State Department is inseparable. Its coordination with the U.S. Embassy in Havana is the "risk of the trade" in a lucrative business: profiting from the destabilization of Cuba.
International laws severely punish acts similar to those carried out by El Toque against the Cuban people, which is why it should be included in the National List of entities and individuals linked to terrorism.
There is no campaign against El Toque on the part of the Cuban people and government, but rather a recognition of the truth, outrage at the damage caused by these mercenaries, the architects of financial terrorism.
