Tiny Sunrise Airways runs 12 direct flights weekly from the Cuban cities of Havana, Camaguey and Santiago to Port-au-Prince. Cubans interviewed in the market said they spend about $700 on airfare, food and lodging and another $700 on merchandise, which they resell at a markup high enough to make several hundred dollars profit per trip.

Most of those interviewed said they made near-monthly trips, generating more than $2,000 in extra income a month in a country where annual state salaries are less than $400.

This is from Michael Weissenstein, “Cubans fly around the world hunting shopping bargains,” The News & Observer, December 11, 2018.

HT2 Tyler Cowen.
Read the whole article, which is not long.
The article and especially these 2 paragraphs above say so much:
1. First, Haitians are almost certainly much better off than Cubans. That shouldn’t be surprising given that Cubans are still suffering under Communism, now with a few nods to slightly freer markets. But it’s striking nevertheless.
2. Second, this inefficient way of getting goods to the Cuban markets implies that very high barriers to imports are making Cubans much worse off than otherwise. Spending $700 plus time to arbitrage a relatively small number of goods is very expensive. My gut estimate is that ending all trade barriers would almost immediately double per capita income in Cuba.
3. Third, and my commentary: I hope Fidel Castro is burning in hell.