1 Peso Convertible

Cuba's convertible peso series launched in 1994 as the government's response to the "Special Period" — the economic crisis triggered by the Soviet collapse. The convertible peso was engineered to absorb US dollars circulating informally after the decriminalization of dollar possession that same year, creating a parallel currency that would shadow the greenback while keeping hard currency flows under state control.

Thomas De La Rue's involvement reflects the political oddity: a British security printer producing currency for a socialist state locked in US embargo. The watermark is the sole listed security feature — modest specification for a De La Rue product, suggesting the note was treated more as a scrip instrument than a high-security issue.