A Cuban identified as Jennifer González posted a brief video on TikTok this Monday documenting her trip to Cuba filmed at one in the morning, while waiting in line at the airport with dozens of people anticipating the flight to the island.
The most striking aspect of the account was not the time or the crowd, but the physical condition in which Jennifer embarked on the journey: she had only been a month and 12 days post-surgery.
"One in the morning and here we are waiting in line to head to Cuba. It's packed here, so we'll see, this is the only stop," says in the 49-second video.
Once on the plane, the young woman displayed a detail that encapsulates her determination: "We are already on the plane, and look, here I have my little seat to sit in, because as you know, it has only been one month and 12 days since my surgery."
The video, tagged with the hashtags #cubanosporelmundo and #cubanos, accumulated over 6,000 views and 197 likes in just a few hours.
Jennifer's case is part of a growing trend among Cubans in the diaspora who document their returns to the island on social media, featuring family reunions that generate millions of views under the hashtag #ReencuentroCuba.
That determination contrasts with an increasingly complicated aerial landscape. Eleven airlines have suspended their flights to Cuba so far in 2026, driven by a shortage of Jet A-1 fuel, power outages, and hotel closures, while only eight maintain partial operations.
The crisis reached its peak between February and March 2026, when the fuel shortage restricted operations to a single daily commercial flight from Havana.
Despite this, airlines such as American Airlines and Copa Airlines maintain operational routes from Miami to Havana, with fares ranging from $344 to $437 for round trips in May 2026.
The migratory context partly explains this urgency to travel regardless of the obstacles. Over 1.4 million Cubans left the island between 2020 and 2024, leaving hundreds of thousands of families separated for years.
Only in the fiscal year 2024, 217,615 Cubans arrived in the United States, the second largest exodus in the migration history of the island.
In that context, return trips—whether temporary or permanent—have become a social phenomenon that the individuals involved document on TikTok, generating significant resonance within the Cuban community abroad.
The video of Jennifer González, with her special seat under her arm and just out of surgery, precisely illustrates what many Cubans in the diaspora feel: that no obstacle, personal or logistical, is enough to postpone their reunion with loved ones.
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