Cubans around the world are participating in a viral challenge on social media that excites and moves at the same time, inspired by the song "No ha sido fácil," by Pablo Milanés.
The theme has become the soundtrack of stories marked by personal decision-making. Some are filled with sacrifice and overcoming challenges after leaving Cuba, while others advocate for the freedom to choose paths outside conventional studies, and there are those who support the idea of pursuing their dreams without leaving the country.
In most of the posts, the struggle of Cubans is revealed as they have had to carve out a new path away from their families, in places that are sometimes hostile and other times welcoming.
There are scenes of professionals who gave up everything in search of a better quality of life for their children. They had to cross borders and reinvent themselves to survive in a more competitive society, one that rewards individual effort.
Many Cubans confess that they felt lost in their homeland, wasting time with unproductive lives and struggling to put food on the table, unable to meet even their most basic needs. Migration involved devastating breaks, but for most, it is worth it to start this new chapter of life.
Viral challenge portrays the truth about Cubans
"It Has Not Been Easy" was the main theme of the Cuban television series "Something More Than Dreaming". It premiered in 1984 and addressed social issues in a Cuba that no longer exists, as the regime gradually suppressed those ideals of equal rights and opportunities.
This song by Pablo Milanés has been covered numerous times. It reflects the spirit of an era, the defense of freedom in choosing the direction of our lives, and the quest for solutions in a complex context. Cubans have reinterpreted it in a new historical setting for the country, marked by emigration.
The challenge has its critics and detractors, like all content on social media. The strength of the messages doesn't lie in the perfect editing of videos or in calculated choreography. Its power comes from the sincerity with which each person opens a window into their life and allows the voice of Pablo Milanés to speak for them.
"It hasn't been easy to have an opinion that values my vocation, my freedom to choose." The phrase captures the weight of growing up in a country where expressing oneself openly can cost job opportunities, personal peace, or even lead to imprisonment.
Political repression, daily shortages, and the economic crisis are part of the backdrop of these stories, which illustrate how the decision to leave the country is not taken lightly by Cubans.
The change meant leaving behind loved ones, familiar streets, and in many cases, even one's mother tongue. It also involved accepting that often one must start from scratch in order to stand by a belief and pursue a dream.
An old song that speaks of pain, loyalty, and hope
In these viral challenges, the images overlay verses that seem written for the Cuban diaspora: “I am like they wanted to be, but trying to be myself.”
Nostalgia blends with the determination of someone who does not forget their roots. “Love me without any fear, for I shall promise
loyalty to my way of being” becomes a declaration of resistance against the forced adaptation to other cultural customs, another economic status, another lifestyle that living abroad in any country of the world imposes.
The pain of emigrating involves not only the sorrow of leaving a place but also the sacrifice of what a family has built, the routines and certainties. These images of Cubans present another truth to the world; they are migrants with the determination to not give up, ready to build a new life wherever they go.
“Climb with me to find the step, the step that I will evoke to reach that place I once dreamed of...” is the promise that resonates in every story, regardless of whether the dream has already been achieved or still lies on the horizon.
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