Cuban authorities have presented compelling evidence identifying digital platform El Toque as a sophisticated instrument of economic warfare against the nation, directly funded and coordinated by the United States government. The revelation came through an extensive investigation featured on the television program ‘Razones de Cuba,’ which exposed the platform’s operations and its key personnel.
According to Raúl Capote, a former State Security agent, El Toque represents a dual-pronged attack targeting both Cuba’s economy and the consciousness of its citizens. The investigation identified 18 central figures within El Toque’s operations, including Gretel Valladares Carbonell (alias ‘Filo’), who managed funds from USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy distributed by the US State Department. Notably, Katia Sánchez Martínez serves simultaneously as El Toque’s community manager and an employee of the U.S. Embassy in Havana, demonstrating direct coordination.
The platform’s current leadership consists of four individuals: José Hassan (the public face who confessed to receiving U.S. funding), Eloy, Alejandro, and Ana Lidia—described as the operational mastermind. Internal power struggles have reportedly intensified following these disclosures.
Academic analysis from University of Havana experts Raúl Guinovart Díaz and Yubán Gutiérrez Quintanilla dismantled El Toque’s purported technical sophistication. Their examination revealed that the platform’s algorithm for calculating informal exchange rates employs elementary statistical methods—primarily the median—rather than complex econometric models. The methodology involves processing data from just four Telegram groups that contribute over half of the sample, making the system highly susceptible to manipulation.
The investigation documented numerous methodological flaws, including duplicate message counting, identical text structures suggesting automated generation, and simultaneous equivalent posts across different groups. These manipulations directly impact Cuba’s economy by distorting prices, promoting inflation, encouraging speculation, and discouraging remittances through official channels—particularly damaging amid the ongoing economic blockade.
Experts concluded that El Toque operates through data selection manipulation rather than algorithmic complexity, essentially reverse-engineering results to match predetermined outcomes. This practice artificially creates market volatility through the economic phenomenon of overshooting, where prices react excessively to manufactured expectations.
The Cuban government maintains that El Toque represents a modern manifestation of hybrid warfare, combining media manipulation with economic destabilization tactics previously deployed against Chile, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla initially brought these allegations before the United Nations on October 29, initiating an international campaign to expose the platform’s true nature as a weapon of unconventional economic war against the Cuban people.