The Cuban content creator @arguellespositivo posted a video just over two minutes long titled "The Way Things Are," in which he delivers a direct reflection to Cubans living on the island regarding remittances and the real effort involved in each transfer.
The message starts bluntly: "Are you Cuban? Then listen to what I'm about to say. It's going to hurt many people, but things are what they are for my people in Cuba."
The creator candidly acknowledges the harshness of life on the island: "I know that there is no life, that there are no opportunities, that there is nothing, no food, no work, no water, no electricity, no way to get ahead."
But the core of his reflection points in another direction: he asks those living in Cuba to appreciate the family members abroad who, with sacrifice, send them 10, 15, or 20 dollars.
"Thank those little people over here who are out there. Those little people who, for better or worse, are able to send you 10, 15, or 20 pesos," he says in the video.
The creator warns that life outside of Cuba is not the idealized image that many have from the island: "Here there is water, there is electricity, there is food, and there is everything, but everything has a price and requires effort, work, sacrifice, and money."
His message is clear: that Cubans on the island should not be upset when a relative abroad cannot send the expected amount.
"Don't be upset when someone tells you, 'I can't today, I can send you 20 today but not 30, I can send you 50 today but not 100,'" he points out.
The phrase that encapsulates his entire reflection is striking: "Money doesn't grow on trees. Money is earned, and it can be quite difficult to obtain, and often not everyone has the opportunity to give you a hand."
This type of testimony is part of a very active debate on social media among the Cuban diaspora. A Cuban in the United States exploded in March over the constant requests from her relatives on the island, and a Cuban in Miami explained in January why he refused to send 200 dollars to a friend.
Even @arguellespositivo has a history in this space: in October 2024, he published a video about the truths of the "American dream" where he stated that outside, "there are no friends or family, it's you against the world," and in November of that year, he reflected on how economic pressure destroys couples in the United States.
The crisis described by the creator has specific figures: remittance flows from the diaspora to Cuba exceeded 2,000 million dollars annually before recent restrictions, but only 24% of the Cuban population received those transfers, according to estimates from the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights.
"Here, life is also hard and difficult," concludes @arguellespositivo. "It's not called crying misery; it's called speaking a truth that no one is capable of telling you."
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