A video posted last Saturday on Instagram by content creator Ana Mesa has sparked an intense debate about the identity and political commitment of Cubans abroad.
In the reel, which has accumulated over 60,000 views and 6,100 likes, Mesa recounts how he heard a Cuban in a Chanel store in Miami declare: "Cuba does not hurt me nor does it interest me."
The author of the video recounted her surprise at those words: "Honestly, one never expects to hear that from a Latino, much less from a Cuban." On the same day, at a Walmart in the city, Mesa overheard other Cubans discussing politics, the families left behind, and the dream of returning when Cuba is free.
The contrast between both scenes is the heart of the video, which concludes with a question that encapsulates the tension: "Is it true that money really changes people?"
The phenomenon depicted by Mesa is not new, but it has intensified with the most recent waves of migration. More than 625,000 Cubans were processed as migrants in the United States between 2022 and 2023, many of them driven primarily by economic motivations.
Once settled and achieving a degree of material success, a sector of these emigrants seems to prioritize their daily life over any political cause related to the island.
The economic context of Miami amplifies that divide. The contrast between those who discuss issues in a luxury boutique and those who do so in a supermarket reflects an internal stratification that translates into very different attitudes toward Cuba.
The stance of "Cuba doesn’t hurt me or interest me" represents, for many analysts in the diaspora, a third path: neither the active political engagement of the historical exile nor the pragmatism of those seeking transitional solutions, but total disconnection.
Some attribute this thinking to material success; others, to a genuine exhaustion after decades of waiting without visible results. This controversy about the different positions of Cubans abroad has been present in the community for years.
The debate sparked by the video of Ana Mesa shows that the Cuban community abroad is far from being a homogeneous block.
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