"Cuba, where are you", the question of a Cuban photographer when he saw La Rampa empty

Two years after the country's biggest migratory crisis, a Cuban photographer published images of La Rampavac, when it used to be a diverse space of social confluence known as "the five most popular blocks in all of Cuba."

The Havana photographer Pedro Luis García showed in his profileFacebook a desolate image taken on Monday and asked: "Cuba, where are you."

According to the photojournalist, on Monday in broad daylight he walked down Avenida 23 and when he arrived at the La Rampa area (Avenida 23, from Calle L to Malecón) he did not see anyone.

"Everyone is gone. This is the entrance to the missing ICRT on 23rd Street. Before, walking along these sidewalks was bustling, a crowd of townspeople visited its surroundings. I don't see anyone anymore. It's February 19, 2024. Where are they? "?" he questioned.

Likewise, one of his followers on the social network published an image of the same place the night before, and it looks equally empty.

Neither cars nor pedestrians, La Rampa in the photo seems to belong to a ghost town.

Since October 2021 more thanhalf a million Cubans have fled the island. The majority have taken refuge in the United States after long journeys through Central America.

Some familiesthey are completely gone. Others have split up, leaving behind the elderly and women with children.

Many Cubans have expressed the same feeling that García experienced. They feel abandoned on the island and captured by nostalgia.

"Every day there are more and more Cubans on the island. There will come a time when Cubans from other countries will have to be imported. (...) You also have to understand that leaving your house today in Cuba constitutes a risk for your heart, for your liver, for mental health and for life in general," considered one Internet user.

"A ghost town," said another.