"This breaks the heart": Cuban reunites with his daughter after 4 years in Cuba

Zulien Martinez, a Cuban émigré, had an emotional reunion with his daughter Carla in Cuba after four years of separation, in a surprise arrival that was captured in a video posted on TikTok on April 29th.

The reunion adds to a wave of similar videos that in April 2026 have touched the hearts of thousands of Cubans in the diaspora. On that same day, another Cuban had an emotional reunion with his family that garnered over 23,700 views.

In March, a Cuban mother surprised her daughter a day before her birthday after six years apart, in a video that garnered over 250,000 views. In April, a TikToker returned to Cuba after six years of living in the United States and explained: "I came to move forward with my daughter, but I couldn't do it."

Also in April, a young Cuban crossed through airport barriers to throw himself into his mother's arms in a moment that went viral on the platform. And a Cuban woman who returned after four years away documented her daughter's reunion with her father in the street, with a phrase that summed it all up: “We fulfilled my promise together”.

Behind each video lies a story of forced separation due to the crisis in Cuba. Between 2020 and 2024, more than 1.4 million Cubans left the island driven by economic hardship, chronic blackouts, and political repression. As of 2023, 38% of Cuban families had at least one member living abroad.

The children are left in the care of grandparents and other relatives while their parents seek opportunities abroad. In the fiscal year 2024, approximately 1,400 unaccompanied Cuban minors arrived in the United States without at least one of their parents.

Since 2025, TikTok has become the space where the Cuban diaspora collectively documents and processes these reunions, creating a shared catharsis among those experiencing similar situations. April 2026 has been one of the most active months for this type of content, with multiple cases accumulating hundreds of thousands of views and highlighting the human drama left behind by 67 years of dictatorship in Cuba.