3 Pesos 'C' Foreign Exchange Certificate-Narrow 'C'

Cuba's Foreign Exchange Certificate series was designed to capture hard currency from tourists and diplomats while keeping convertible funds entirely separate from the domestic peso economy. The 'C' designation on this note identified it as valid only within the red-label FEC tier — accepted at dollar stores and Diplotiendas inaccessible to ordinary Cubans, a deliberate apartheid of purchasing power that drew persistent internal criticism.

The narrow 'C' variety is a minor but catalogued typographic distinction within the 1985 printing, likely reflecting a plate adjustment at the Státní Tiskárna Cenin facility in Prague, which produced much of Cuba's banknote output during the Soviet-aligned period.