MIAMI - The Cuban government devalued the peso on Thursday in an effort to help stabilize its ailing economy amid growing tensions with the U.S. and Venezuela in the Caribbean.
The Cuban Central Bank updated a third official exchange rate that is much closer to the U.S. dollar as part of a new strategy to help shore up demand for foreign currency, as the island's economic conditions worsen and widespread shortages have residents reeling.
Authorities in Havana set the new rate at 410 Cuban pesos per U.S. dollar, a precipitous devaluation from the previous 24 pesos and 120 pesos to the dollar, respectively, signifying an implicit recognition that the Cuban government's current strategy to allay the island's disastrous economic woes is failing.
Last week, U.S. special operators seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast, confiscating roughly 1.1 million barrels of crude oil.
U.S. authorities allege that the vessel, ship-named Skipper, is linked to an international illicit transport network funneling sanctioned oil products from Venezuela to U.S. adversaries in Cuba and Iran.
Officials in Washington also say that additional Venezuelan tankers will be subject to seizures after the White House applied an unprecedented blockade around the Venezuelan coast, ordering that no tankers are permitted to enter or depart Venezuelan waters, due to ongoing U.S. military operations in the region.
Analysts fear that additional seizures will cause further distress on the Cuban economy, which reportedly receives about 65,000 barrels of subsidized oil from Venezuelan state-run company, P.D.V.S.A., a lifeline for the government in Havana.
