Spanish influencer shocked after her visit to Cuba: “What I found there was extreme poverty”

The Spanish influencer known on social networks as Noemisma She shared an Instagram story in which she confessed to having been shocked after her visit to Cuba, especially due to the scarcity and prevailing poverty.

“What I found there was extreme poverty,” said the young woman who described her experience this Wednesday, of which she praised its landscapes and its people, but criticized the poor diet of Cubans, the difficulties in exchanging euros and responded to other concerns of His Followers.

“What would you like to know about Cuba?” asked the Madrid influencer, founder of Madretea, a social media platform dedicated to mothers with children who suffer from ASD (autism spectrum disorder).

Through several questions received, the influencer shared her observations of the Cuban reality with her followers. “I had the impression that I was going to find a colorful, colonial city; and what I found was extreme poverty,” said the young woman.

“I'm going to show you a video that I didn't upload out of respect for people's dignity,” he said, showing images of homes in Old Havana, with subtitles explaining that the people who live in them do so in conditions of “extreme poverty.”

“There are no supermarkets there, they have a ration card, they have to stand in lines and they are given their ration, and they have to pay for it. Also, you can't choose and say, today I feel like rice. Don't think that you can eat whatever you want there, if there are hardly any supermarkets. There you can't choose, what you have is what you eat,” he said at another time.

Conceived as a compendium of advice and impressions to share with those interested, Noemimisma's story answered doubts about the currency that circulates in Cuba, advising travelers to carry euros instead of dollars (preferably in 5 bills) and to exchange them on the black market, through trusted people, because the official exchange is 4 times more expensive.

“Is it dangerous to go on your own or is it better to hire a guide?” her followers asked her, to which the influencer responded that the first time she was impressed by how dark the streets were, poorly lit and with power outages due to the lack of resources. . But, “Cubans are not dangerous, they are 'insistent' and very 'salty', but they are not dangerous,” he answered.

Asked about how people experience food rationing?, the young woman only expressed that “it is very hard.” In addition to these concerns, the influencer described the means of transportation she used, calculated the average expense per tourist, recommended places to eat and other practical issues, and even dared to offer a simplified version of the country's history.

“How have you handled the real Cuba, the one of hunger and misery?” they asked him. “This is very hard,” he responded. “They had told me about India and poverty, but damn!… when you come back from Cuba your head also…” indicated the young woman, with a facial expression that denoted the impact that this issue had caused on her.

“It's not a place I would go with my children,” he said of Havana, although he would go in Varadero. Summing up, the young woman said that she had really enjoyed the trip to Cuba, that it had “given her many things on a personal level,” and that she had “learned a lot.”

“I always say that information is power. I really regret not having had that information before, because I would have brought a lot of medicines and clothes... Not candy or pens, but things that really help," added the influencer, who said that she left all the medicines she brought with her on the Island.

“We can go help. It is a wonderful destination. For me it has been unforgettable, I loved the trip 100x100 and I would recommend it without a doubt,” Noemimisma concluded.

"Living Cuba's socialism in person, socialism equals misery", expressed the Spanish influencer Rosa Martorell during a recent trip to Cuba, where she was horrified to see how the milk that the government sells to parents with children is distributed through the supply book.

"Here in Cuba there is a shortage of everything. It is practically impossible to find water to drink at the sites. You have to ask the people in the houses to get you water. The same thing happens with gasoline. We have stopped at four or five gas stations and there are none," the influencer commented in a video on TikTok.

"You don't go hungry in Cuba? Tell the Cubans and see what they say, or better yet, go live there and see for yourself," the young woman replied to a follower on that platform who assured her that in the island did not go hungry, and after verifying on his trip the food shortage suffered by the Cuban people.

"Currency conversion is a mechanism that this wonderful and dictatorial regime has to steal from Cubans., because they make the change that they want. "This is how they use society to bring currency into the country, so they can then do any business with this currency in other countries," he added.

"This goes to people who say that in Cuba things are cheap for Cubans," stressed the Spanish influencer, showing with amazement the price of products such as corn, peas or canned carrots, and highlighting that their value doubled the sales price of the same brand in Spain.