Ileana Fernández, mother of the Cuban YouTuber Dina Stars, broke down in tears in front of the dairy section of a Spanish supermarket upon seeing for the first time the enormous variety of products available, in a video published this Sunday on TikTok that captures in 19 seconds the chasm between hungry Cuba and life in Europe.
Ileana arrived in Spain in early May to accompany her daughter for the imminent birth of baby Derek, after eight months of separation, as documented in the emotional reunion of Dina Stars with her mother on May 3 at a Spanish train station.
In the video, recorded during a visit to the supermarket, Ileana can't hold back her tears in front of the shelves filled with milk.
"I also cried in front of the milk at the market, but this, this is very sad, Dani, because look at how many types! I don't want to fall into the same old thing, but you see these things, you see what is happening, the children, and oh, this is very sad," Ileana says in the clip.
Dina Stars acompañó el video con una descripción que no deja lugar a dudas: «En Cuba los niños no tienen comida, esto dijo mi mamá al ver un mercado en España por primera vez».
What makes this moment particularly powerful is its direct predecessor: in November 2021, the same Ileana emerged in tears from an agromarket in Havana, known as the "millionaires' market" on Calle 19 and B in Vedado, due to its exorbitant prices.
On that occasion, with about 2,000 Cuban pesos, they could barely buy basic vegetables and beans, and Ileana stated, "You leave there feeling so upset that the salad might not sit well with me. I don't know where we're going to end up!"
Four and a half years later, she cries once again in front of a supermarket aisle, but this time it’s due to the abundance she has never known in Cuba.
The contrast between the two cries—one for misery and the other for abundance—reflects the food crisis the island is experiencing.
According to the survey "In Cuba There is Hunger 2025" by the Food Monitor Program, one in three Cuban households (33.9%) experienced hunger in 2025, 25% of the population went to bed without dinner, and 29% skipped one meal each day.
The milk production in Cuba has dropped by 37.6% according to official data, worsening child malnutrition, while in the province of Granma, 78.9% of the population faces hunger.
Dina Stars arrived in Madrid in May 2022 after being detained by the Cuban State Security on July 13, 2021, while making a live statement about the protests of July 11.
Since then, mother and daughter lived apart, connected by video calls: in April 2026, Ileana saw the 5D ultrasound of baby Derek from Cuba, getting excited at the image of her future grandson.
The full video of the supermarket visit is available on Dina Stars' YouTube channel, where the YouTuber documents her mother's journey of discovery in the face of a reality that is simply unimaginable in Cuba.
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