A video published on TikTok by the user @mr_ernest40 went viral with over 168,000 views, reacting with outrage to the announcement by the Cuban regime to open the doors for investment to the diaspora, recalling decades of forced exile, stigmatization, and separated families.
On Monday, March 16, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga —the great-nephew of Fidel and Raúl Castro— announced to NBC News and in the Mesa Redonda that Cubans living abroad and their descendants could invest in the island in sectors such as tourism, mining, infrastructure, and energy, even without effective residency in Cuba.
The response from @mr_ernest40, in a video lasting one minute and 49 seconds that amassed 21,000 likes and over 2,300 shares, was straightforward: "Who are you asking to invest? The one who left by raft? The one you forced to leave by raft?"
The creator of the video explored the massive waves of migration that the regime caused since 1959: the first exile from 1959 to 1962, when the government expropriated property and forced the departure of hundreds of thousands of Cubans; the Mariel exodus in 1980, involving approximately 120,000 people; the balsero crisis of 1994; and the migration surge following the pandemic. "There are two million Cubans scattered around the world," he noted.
One of the most powerful moments of the video was when he remembered those who could not say goodbye to their dying relatives: "How many people lost their loved ones and could not bid them a final farewell because the damn dictatorship did not allow them to look back, because they were deserters, because they were stateless, because they were worms?"
The regime's announcement comes at the worst economic moment for Cuba in decades: widespread blackouts, a fuel shortage exacerbated by the reduction of Venezuelan supplies, and a historic exodus that between 2022 and 2023 reduced the Cuban population from approximately 11.3 to 8.62 million inhabitants, a decline of 18%.
The proposed measures include opening bank accounts in foreign currency, access to land for usufruct, and participation as partners or owners in private enterprises. However, Pérez-Oliva himself made it clear that "land ownership will never belong to the investors," and the Cuban Constitution prohibits "private enrichment" in its article 30, which analysts point out as structural obstacles that render any real legal guarantees unfeasible.
The video also included criticism of Cubans on social media who, according to @mr_ernest40, spread exaggerated or false information, harming the credibility of the cause: "If you truly want a free Cuba, what you need to do is study and understand what is happening. The message you should be advocating for is the freedom of your country, but based on facts, not hysteria."
The stance of the hardline exile community regarding the regime's proposal was encapsulated in the words of Cuban-American congresswoman María Elvira Salazar: "We do not negotiate with the Castros or that regime."
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