What happened to this Cuban woman with a friend in Cuba: "I was blown away."



Cuban abroadPhoto © @yannalacubanita / TikTok

A Cuban resident in Spain for six years recounted on TikTok the conflict she had with a childhood friend living in Cuba, who demanded that she find a Spaniard for her to emigrate. When she received a negative response, the friend called her "ungrateful" and "selfish" before ending the friendship.

Yanna, known on the platform as @yannalacubanita, posted a video on Wednesday that is over nine minutes long in which she describes how her friend called her asking to connect her with a Spanish man, arguing that after six years in the country, Yanna should have enough acquaintances to do so.

"I am not a dating app for finding someone a partner," Yanna responded, explaining that she cannot take on the responsibility for the consequences that type of relationship could have.

The content creator warned that she is aware of firsthand cases of Cuban women who arrived in Spain through relationships with foreigners and experienced mistreatment, kidnapping, and severe psychological harm.

In light of those arguments, the friend in Cuba stood her ground: she told him that if he didn't want to help her, he wasn't her friend, and that the best thing to do was to stop speaking to each other.

"You have to figure out your life on your own," Yanna replied, pointing out that when she left Cuba, her friend didn't offer her even a penny of help.

Yanna also took the opportunity in the video to debunk the idealized image that many Cubans have of Europe: "Don't believe everything you see on social media. There are many Spaniards here who can't support themselves, they spend time saving up and go to Cuba with a thousand or two thousand dollars, and they already think they're millionaires."

According to her account, the friend had already adopted the same attitude towards others in her circle, stopping communication with them when they did not provide what she requested.

At the end of the video, Yanna announced that she had decided to block her: "That's it for me. I blocked her. I don't care what happens to her."

The testimony adds to a trend of Cuban women who publicly denounce the pressures they receive from the island and the risks of what is called "love at first visa", a phenomenon where migration motivations outweigh sentimental ones.

In March 2026, another Cuban residing in Italy, identified as @prospera000, went viral for criticizing Italian men who travel to Cuba to seek partners only to control women with phrases like "thanks to me, you are here," and she delivered a direct message: "An independent woman does not kneel to anyone."

The context surrounding these testimonies is one of an unprecedented migration crisis: independent estimates calculate that 545,000 people have left Cuba in recent years, which has intensified social pressure on those who have already managed to settle abroad.

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Yare Grau

Originally from Cuba, but living in Spain. I studied Social Communication at the University of Havana and later graduated in Audiovisual Communication from the University of Valencia. I am currently part of the CiberCuba team as an editor in the Entertainment section.

Yare Grau

Originally from Cuba, but living in Spain. I studied Social Communication at the University of Havana and later graduated in Audiovisual Communication from the University of Valencia. I am currently part of the CiberCuba team as an editor in the Entertainment section.