A Cuban resident in the United States published a video on TikTok on March 31 in which she directly blames the Cuban diaspora for sustaining the regime by replacing everything the government takes from the island's population.
Barbara Ricardo (@barbararicardo995), 58 years old, posted a critique that garnered over 120,000 views, nearly 9,000 likes, and more than 3,800 shares, reigniting an uncomfortable debate within the Cuban community abroad.
The blame for Cuba's situation lies with us who live here in the United States or anywhere in the world, as we spend our lives accommodating our families," she stated bluntly at the beginning of the video.
Its central argument is as simple as it is uncomfortable: every time the Cuban regime suppresses something from the population, emigrants rush to replace it, easing the pressure on the State and eliminating any incentive for change.
"He took away their food, send food. He took away their medicine, send medicine. He took away their clothes and shoes, send clothes and shoes. Now he's taken away their electricity, there they go, the calves, sending solar panels, sending power generators to Cuba," he listed.
The reference to solar panels has a specific context: the Cuban regime sells solar panels for prices up to 75,200 Cuban pesos —more than twenty times the average state salary— or in dollars, with contracts of up to 3,000 dollars for five kilowatts over twenty years, figures that are unattainable for someone who only relies on a state salary.
"Providing electricity to the population is the responsibility of the Cuban State, it is not ours," emphasized Barbara Ricardo, pointing directly to the logic that, according to her, the diaspora has normalized without questioning it.
The creator goes further and describes the political effect of this dynamic: the segment of Cubans receiving remittances lives comfortably—vacations in Varadero, parties, gold—and precisely for that reason, they do not protest or mobilize.
"Those who rely on remittances are neither going hungry nor suffering misery. They live better than you and me," he stated, describing recipients of remittances who celebrate quinceañeras, baby showers, and birthdays while their relatives abroad work long hours.
"Those who protest are the few who protest, they are the ones who have nothing. Those who have nothing to lose, those are the ones who protest," he added, drawing a direct line between economic dependency and political silence.
This debate is not new, but it has intensified. The military conglomerate GAESA controls between 40% and 60% of the Cuban economy and captures a significant portion of the foreign currency sent from abroad through state-run stores with 240% margins and mechanisms like Fincimex, meaning that part of the money sent by emigrants ends up financing the regime's military apparatus.
On TikTok, it has become increasingly common for Cubans abroad to publicly express their exhaustion regarding the constant demands from family members on the island, a tension that Barbara Ricardo takes a step further by suggesting that this comfort financed from outside is precisely what hinders political change.
The video was recorded on March 31, a date on which the creator recalled that since January 30, she had predicted that nothing would happen in Cuba. "Today is March thirty-first, and nothing has happened, nor will it. Cuba will remain the same, and we will continue working here," she said.
"While the government takes things away from them and we send it to them, they will continue to be happy like this for their whole lives. What a horror, what a horror, I hate it!" concluded Barbara Ricardo, in a statement that encapsulates the frustration of a growing segment of the Cuban diaspora.
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