The Cuban actress Yerlín Pérez confessed with tears that she cannot travel to Cuba due to her immigration status in the United States, and she lives with the constant fear of not seeing her father alive again, who is seriously ill in Havana.
The revelation occurred during an intimate and uncensored conversation on the YouTube channel Familia Cubana TV, alongside actors Lieter Ledesma, Rachel Cruz, and Yasbell Rodríguez.
"My dad has a terminal illness. I live with that fear... the fear that one day I won't see him again," Yerlín said, visibly affected. Although she clarified that no one has forbidden her from returning to the Island, she explained that her legal situation prevents her from doing so without the risk of not being able to leave again. "It's a matter of status. I would go for my dad, but with the terrible fear that afterwards they won't let me leave," she admitted.
The actress, who emigrated four years ago, also spoke about the emotional weight of leaving family behind. Her mother, 71, lives in Remedios, Villa Clara, while her father, 72, remains in Havana. "My mother might be able to come. I have less hope for my father," she confessed during one of the most difficult parts of the interview.
Beyond the family drama, Yerlín shared profound reflections on migration, which she described as carrying a backpack filled with memories, nostalgia, and pain. "I pack it all in there: the people I love, the streets, the smells, even the little cloth from Coppelia. It weighs so much that I have to step down hard to leave footprints," she said, using a metaphor that encapsulates the experience of many Cubans outside the Island.
During the conversation, the actress also discussed the criticism she has received on social media since she arrived in Miami, including comments that discredit her for temporarily pursuing cooking as a family venture.
In that regard, Yerlín was emphatic and recalled that in Cuba, he never lived solely off acting and that, like many artists, he worked in restaurants and other jobs to make ends meet. "If I were to live off the money from a novel, I would starve," he stated.
Despite the digital attacks, she expressed her gratitude for the affection from the Cuban public, both on and off the Island, and for the new opportunities she has found in the United States.
She is currently combining humor, theater, and dramatic projects, and is preparing to take the stage in Miami with the play Fresa y Chocolate, a classic of Cuban theater adapted into a new version.
Yerlín did not shy away from sensitive topics. He spoke about censorship, his rejection of the Cuban political system, and his decision not to raise his son in a country where, he said, he did not want to see him repressed. “I miss Cuba, but not that Cuba. I miss my life, my history, not the dictatorship,” he stated emphatically.
The actress made it clear that, although she has built a new life outside the country, Cuba remains an open wound. A wound that today hurts more because of the distance, due to her father's illness, and because of a migration reality that keeps thousands of Cuban families apart, trapped between love and paperwork.
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