A Cuban woman identified on TikTok as @annetll posted a video that has touched thousands of people: the moment her mother receives a television as a gift and reacts with overwhelming emotion, exclaiming "My girl" upon seeing her daughter fulfill that wish from outside.
The 58-second clip, accompanied by the song Arizona Sky, was published on March 8 and includes a dedication that the author wrote for her mother: "Mom, thank you always for everything, you deserve this and much more."
The video adds to a phenomenon that frequently occurs on social media: Cubans living abroad capturing the moment they surprise their relatives on the island with basic appliances that have become unattainable luxury items for most in Cuba.
In May 2025, a Cuban from the United States surprised her father in Maisí with a 65-inch television in a video that also sparked a wave of reactions.
In December 2025, the user @yilian0424 sent a refrigerator to her father in Cuba with the message: "Christmas has come early for my dad. May God always bless him."
Other viral cases include a Cuban woman who gifted a new washing machine to her mother and declared: “Every day we are apart will be worth it.” In April 2025, a granddaughter gifted her 99-year-old grandmother two pots in Cuba, a video that also went viral.
All these moments share the same backdrop: the economic crisis affecting Cuba makes appliances practically inaccessible for most of the population.
89% of Cuban families live in extreme poverty, according to data from November 2025, and pensions do not exceed 4,500 pesos per month, equivalent to approximately 10 dollars.
This is compounded by a chronic electrical crisis: the generation deficit reached 1,725 MW in August 2025, with extended blackouts nationwide that render even the few appliances that manage to reach homes useless.
In this context, the surprises from Cubans emigrating to their families are not just an affectionate gesture: they represent an informal network of solidarity that compensates for the State's abandonment of a impoverished population lacking access to basic goods.
As documented by El País in April 2025, the favor chains among emigrated Cubans —including collective fundraising to buy appliances for vulnerable families— have become one of the main mechanisms of survival on the island.
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