Cuban influencer Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente, known on social media as Anna Bensi, has sparked controversy again with a video in which she delivers a harsh critique of the Cuban regime and openly questions its legitimacy, a message that quickly began circulating among users both inside and outside the island.
In the audiovisual shared on her social media, the 21-year-old from Havana claims that the political system in Cuba does not persist due to critiques from those who challenge it, but rather due to its own exhaustion. “The dictatorship is not going to fall because I say so. It will fall because they have nothing left to offer,” she asserts.
One of the most striking fragments of the video is a phrase that encapsulates the direct tone of his speech: "History will not absolve you, it will spit you out," a statement that reinterprets Fidel Castro's historic slogan.
Throughout the message, Bensi condemns the economic and social situation on the island, questions the political control of the Communist Party, and accuses the system of pushing thousands of Cubans to emigrate. “The only real blockade in Cuba is the one you have against the stomach of the people,” he asserts in the video.
It also criticizes what it describes as a model that thrives on the exodus of its citizens. “They are the only system in the world that exports people and collects nostalgia,” he says.
"There is no longer fear, what there is is disgust," he says in his new video, where he also demands freedom for political prisoners and changes in the country.
The influencer has become one of the most visible young voices on social media that question the Cuban government. Her videos, published on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook, often address the daily challenges on the island and convey a message of freedom and political change.
Her notoriety recently transcended social media when she was interviewed by journalist Daniel Lozano for the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, which highlighted her growing popularity and her critical discourse against the regime. In that interview, the young woman stated that she has faced pressures due to her digital activism.
According to her testimony, the authorities allegedly harassed her to the point of forcing her to leave her job at a beauty salon, as well as restricting her access to the internet and keeping her area under surveillance to intimidate her.
Bensi also recounted the difficulties his family faces in Havana. In the interview, he stated that they sometimes eat only once a day while dealing with water shortages and lengthy power outages that, as he describes, can last over 12 hours in the capital.
The influencer also links her activism to the recent detention of content creators Kamil Zayas and Ernesto Ricardo Medina, from the independent project El 4tico, whom she considers imprisoned for expressing differing opinions.
Despite admitting that at one point she considered emigrating, like hundreds of thousands of Cubans have in recent years, Bensi asserts that today she feels more determined to continue speaking publicly about the reality she faces.
“I have left fear behind because freedom is a thousand times more important,” he stated.
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