Currency exchange in post-ordenamiento Cuba: An exploration of institutional waiting for dollar purchases.

Abstract

This paper analyses the institutional process of purchasing American dollars and other foreign currencies in Cuba, against the backdrop of socio-historical transformations marked by the monetary and economic reorganisation known as “Tarea Ordenamiento,” implemented in Cuba since 2021. The theoretical framework proposed in this study views these social waiting phenomena as objective institutional occurrences, examined through the lens of Discontinuous Materialism in the analysis of social institutions. This paper introduces a novel theoretical perspective for analyzing these social processes, encompassing operational, spatial and temporal dimensions present in the process of purchasing foreign currencies in Cuba. This perspective is further elucidated through an empirical case study conducted in the Cuban city of Camaguey during the summer of 2022. Data was collected via in-depth interviews, brief surveys, participant observations, and content analysis. The conclusions drawn provide elements for a general characterization of these processes in Cuba.