Cuban Anarelys Sabascal has gone viral on Instagram after candidly sharing the reasons that led her to leave her country. In her video, the young woman claims that she had never considered emigrating because, overall, she had a relatively stable life in Cuba. However, the hardships and daily struggles ultimately pushed her to make one of the toughest decisions of her life.
“I had never thought about leaving Cuba because, despite everything, I was living quite well: I had my setup for electricity at night, and I had food, which is one of the most important things,” she explained. But even with those conditions, reality hit her hard when access to gasoline became nearly impossible. “What pushed me to leave was the gasoline. I had to buy it every day, and sometimes I couldn't even find it with money. Everything I earned went towards that,” she recounted.
Anarelys recounted that having a generator was no longer enough, as without fuel she couldn't preserve food or keep the refrigerator running. “I could have food, but I had no way to ensure it wouldn’t spoil,” she said. That constant struggle for the basics wore down her spirits until the moment that changed everything: her son fell ill and she had to take him to the hospital.
“When the child fell in the hospital, it was what shocked me the most. I don't want that for the rest of my life. One does everything for their children,” she confessed, moved. The conditions of the health system and the lack of medicines ultimately made her realize that if she wanted to give her son a future, she had to leave.
The young woman reported that she was able to gather the money thanks to her social media, with which she monetizes her content. “I had some savings, but I was still short more than half for the tickets, because leaving Cuba is extremely expensive. I stopped spending until I achieved it,” she explained. Today, she lives in Costa Rica, where she is trying to build a new life with her little one.
Her testimony has received hundreds of messages of support from other Cubans who identify with her story. "For your children, you become brave," wrote one follower, while another commented, "How hard it is to leave the place where you grew up in order to live with dignity."
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