Two Cubans living in Mexico responded in a video posted on Facebook by the page "Cuba Sin Filtro" to questions from their followers about what life is like in that country, and their testimony summarizes in a few words what thousands of migrants from the island have discovered upon crossing the border: abundance, affordable prices, and work.
"On every corner here in Mexico, there's food, my friend. There's food," asserts one of the protagonists of the video, which has garnered over 114,000 views and more than 5,300 reactions.
According to the testimony, working from Monday to Saturday, it is possible to earn between 1,500 and 2,000 Mexican pesos weekly, a figure that aligns with the current general minimum wage in Mexico, set at 278.80 pesos daily by the National Commission on Minimum Wages.
In terms of food, the Cubans in the video claim that with 500 pesos, one person can stock up on food for 10 to 15 days.
One of the most striking contrasts they present is the price of a carton of eggs: "You know that in Cuba a carton of eggs costs about 20 American dollars. Here, a carton of eggs costs you 99 pesos, almost 100 pesos."
That difference reflects the supply crisis that the island is experiencing, where basic products like eggs have become luxury items that are unattainable for the majority of the population with salaries around 100 to 200 dollars a month.
The video also praises Mexican work culture: "I haven't seen a person in the entire world who works harder than a Mexican. I haven't seen it. They are the ones who work the most in the whole world," says one of the Cubans, who claims to have previously been in Russia and Nicaragua.
The conclusion of the testimony is straightforward: "Mexico is better than Cuba, and the whole world knows it, not just us."
This type of narrative has become common among the Cuban community in Mexico. A Cuban woman identified as Niuris, who has been living in the country for a year, shared that she does her biweekly shopping at Soriana with 1,000 pesos and earns 2,000 pesos weekly. "In Cuba, I didn't have milk; here I do. One has to know how to choose wisely," she stated.
Another Cuban came to describe himself as “wealthy” in Mexico for being able to have coffee with milk for breakfast every day, something that is impossible for the majority on the island.
These testimonies arise in the context of a growing Cuban presence in Mexico, driven in part by deportations from the United States. ICE increased the detention of Cuban migrants by 463% between October 2024 and January 2026, and approximately 6,000 Cubans have been sent to Mexico under an informal agreement between both governments.
The situation is not easy for everyone: thousands of Cubans remain stranded in Tapachula, Chiapas, without a migratory solution, and nearly 3,000 were homeless in Villahermosa, Tabasco, last April.
Even so, those who manage to establish themselves agree that the material conditions in Mexico are incomparably better than those in Cuba. Exuan Guzmán, a Cuban from Villa Clara deported from the United States who showed his apartment in Mexico City, summarized it this way: "Cubans are resilient, and wherever they go, they make it work."
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