A conversation circulated on social media between a young man living in Miami and his mother in Cuba reignited the debate on the real impact of the measures announced by U.S. President Donald Trump and the political use of the issue on the Island.
In the exchange, the young man identified as Yero Vento recounts that his mother expresses through WhatsApp her fear regarding supposed restrictions associated with Trump —such as that “no country” can supply oil to Cuba or that remittances cannot be sent— and he responds with a question that became the focal point of the video: “Mom, when have you ever had all those things that Trump wants to take away?”
In the audio, the young man insists that his mother “is worried” about the idea that Cuba would be left “without oil, electricity, or transportation,” and questions who would really be affected by a tightening of sanctions.
According to his argument, these restrictions would primarily impact “the elite” and those who benefit from supply and business circuits, not the general population, which —he says— “doesn't matter” because they already live in scarcity.
The dialogue also reflects personal anxieties: the mother mentions that "if I die, don’t come," out of fear that he won’t be allowed to travel, while the young man replies that "that’s nothing new" and suggests that travel restrictions wouldn’t be an issue exclusive to Trump.
In that section, the interlocutor suggests that their mother's fear is based on recent perceptions ("my mom just found out... after so many years") regarding the difficulty of remittances and the cost of intermediary services.
Throughout the exchange, the young man describes a landscape of precariousness in his neighborhood: he claims that many houses spend long periods "in the dark," that people cook with coal, firewood, or other resources, that "the majority" do not receive remittances or products from abroad, and that the population "has nothing."
In this context, he emphasizes that what is announced from Washington would not significantly alter the daily life of the average Cuban, and accuses the Cuban government of always blaming the "blockade" and never taking responsibility.
The young man's account also incorporates the idea that the Government would use the people as a "shield" against sanctions, while mentioning international organizations and the UN in a discourse of political confrontation (“they are going to try to lift the sanctions…”).
In his closing remarks, the speaker reiterates that, in his view, the decline encompasses multiple spheres —food, health, education, economy, internet— and concludes that “there is nothing good in Cuba.”
The exchange has gone viral because it highlights, through a family conversation, the disparity between the political narrative regarding the impact of external sanctions and the everyday experiences of scarcity described by many Cubans, encapsulated in the question that fuels the controversy: "When did you have that?"
Back to the Special Period
This Thursday, Miguel Díaz-Canel confirmed what millions of Cubans are already experiencing daily: the country has returned to the harsh times of the Special Period.
During his extensive speech, the leader acknowledged that since December 2025, no oil has been arriving on the island from Venezuela and that the dictatorship is facing a deep energy crisis, with no immediate solutions or external allies.
Díaz-Canel explained that the situation "cannot be resolved overnight" and that the Council of Ministers approved a set of guidelines to address the acute fuel shortages.
The plan, inspired by the measures from the Special Period of the 1990s, revisits the so-called "zero option" designed by Fidel Castro, now updated for the new context.
According to what was said, these strategies include prioritizing state consumption, reducing energy expenditure, and redistributing the available fuel.
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