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To return and rebuild Pino Solo, her small rural village in San Luis, Pinar del Río: such is the dream of young Cuban writer Dania Ferro, in sync with the sentiment of many émigrés from the island, who carry Cuba anchored in their memories.
In an emotional social media message, Ferro reminisced about his childhood in the rural village and announced his intention to return to contribute to its development: “To build, to give my friends a better life,” he said.
The author of books such as Relatos de la Mrs López and Me cansé de compartir a mi pareja recalled that she left Cuba at the age of 19, after growing up in a settlement she described as a red soil field, consisting of fourteen houses and characterized by material hardship.
"I cried a lot in Pino Solo," he wrote, reminiscing about the limitations of his surroundings and his longing to explore other horizons beyond "that dignified poverty."
"I envisioned a different Pino Solo: with roads, with buildings, with supermarkets, with progress," he confessed.
The author stated that since childhood, she aspired to travel, succeed professionally, and return to help her people. In her message, she maintained that she still holds the dream of investing in those lands and promoting better living conditions for those who remain there.
Almost seven decades after a revolution that promised to eradicate poverty and offer a better life to the country's poorest people, many rural towns continue to live in dire conditions.
According to the eighth study on the State of Social Rights in Cuba, released in 2025 by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), 89% of Cubans are in the range of extreme poverty and 78% want to emigrate.
Ferro's post generated numerous comments from followers who celebrated his career and supported his community aid plans. Some recalled personal experiences related to Pino Solo and the "school in the countryside" phase in the area, while others encouraged his project for return and social commitment.
Born on February 12, 1984, Dania Ferro arrived in the United States in 2004. Since then, she has developed a productive literary career in Florida and has published several books, including: Anxiety, Longings, and My Wife and I Have Lovers.
She has also written for media outlets such as The News-Press from Fort Myers, Naples Daily News, and Diario Las Américas. On her Instagram profile, she describes herself as “writer, life coach, and speaker”.
With the painful fracture of an emigration that affected hundreds of thousands of people in recent years, marking the largest exodus in the country's history, many Cubans scattered around the world nurture dreams similar to those of this young author.
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