The Cuban regime increased from 200 dollars or 20 kilograms to 500 dollars or 50 kilograms the maximum limit for packages that arrive in the country as unaccompanied luggage, in the midst of a deep generalized crisis that keeps the population suffocated.
In its number 47, the Cuban Gazette published on Thursday, June 29, Resolution 133/2023 that authorizes increasing the value limit or its equivalent weight for shipments made to Cuba from abroad for unaccompanied baggage.
As of July 1 and temporarily until December 31, 2023, the maximum limit that Cuban Customs will allow to pass as parcels will increase from 200 dollars or 20 kilograms to 500 dollars or 50 kilograms, as long as it is demonstrated he non-commercial nature of the cargonotes the post.
With this measure, Cubans will be able to send items to the island up to a limit of 500 USD or its equivalent weight, considered 50 kg. In this case, “the exemption from payment of the customs tax is maintained for the first USD 30.00 of the value or its equivalent weight of 3.00 kg of the shipment, as well as the application of the excess of this of the tariff rate of 30%” , explains the norm.
For the food, aseo, medicines and medical supplies the import will be exempt from payment of customs taxby passenger as unaccompanied baggage, and the Cuban authorities recommend presenting these categories at the time of shipment in separate packages to facilitate their payment exemption.
In addition, in that same period, “the non-commercial importation, without limits on its value and exempt from payment of the Customs Tax on food, hygiene, medicines and medical supplies, by way of passengers as accompanied luggage” is authorized.
On June 20, Cuba announced that would extend for the third time and until December 31 the tariff exemption for food, toilets and medicines and would include new benefits for shipments and unaccompanied luggage, reported the Minister of Finance and Prices (MFP), Vladimir Regueiro Ale.
The official said that this year will also allow “the import of medical supplies, expanding the possibilities as a complement to medicines and that they can be accessories or equipment that have to do with the treatment of bedridden people.”
He affirmed that these measures are maintained because the conditions that led to their implementation in 2021 persist, such as the shortage of food and other basic necessities in the national market.
After the protests on July 11 of that year in more than 60 locations in Cuba, the communist government decided to exempt cleaning products, food, and medicine from paying customs taxes, as a way to make up for the deficit that exists in the country. .
Regueiro Ale acknowledged that, faced with the rise in international prices, the island’s entities have been inefficient in meeting the needs of the population and guaranteeing the economic and social development of the country.
However, sending unaccompanied parcels to the island is usually extremely inefficient. In March it was revealed that the parcel agencies manage the delivery of luggage with more than five years behind in Cubareported official sources.
The Minister of Transportation, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, said in a meeting to follow up on the behavior of the “transit” agencies that in the first five days of March a total of 28,770 packages were delivered, and 671 are pending with terms of more than 30 days. , as reported in a note by the official media Cubadebate.
Some cases of unaccompanied luggage sent by their owners between 2017 and 2020 are now arriving in Cuba, and their recipients will receive them more than five years later.
