A Cuban resident in Miami identified as @lais28311 touched the hearts of thousands of users by posting a video on TikTok in which she reveals how she watches her family in Cuba through security cameras installed in the family home, without their knowledge.
In the images captured by the real-time cameras, her mother can be seen hanging laundry in the yard—next to a red and white bicycle—and another young woman sitting on the front porch of the house, in everyday scenes that the emigrant watches from afar.
"They don't know it, but I watch them to calm my heart," the Cuban wrote in the description of the video posted last Tuesday.
The clip, just 18 seconds long, is accompanied by a song that captures the sentiment of an entire diaspora: "My longing is killing me, a little plant from afar, it's right next to me and I feel empty, with loneliness in abundance."
The author also left a message for those who have asked her about the technology she uses: "For everyone who has asked me about the process of installing the cameras in Cuba, I promise to make a video explaining everything."
This practice is not new among Cuban emigrants. Last Thursday, May 22, the user @diaznoelito1, known as "El Menor D' Kentucky," posted a similar video showing his mother in Cuba through a remote camera, which surpassed 220,000 views in less than 24 hours.
In January 2026, Cuban @adianetttt, a resident of Miami, had already showcased her system: cameras connected to a router with a phone line that can be recharged from abroad and an EcoFlow device to maintain recording during the frequent blackouts on the island. She described the setup as "a process" that "is worth 100%."
The technical challenge is twofold: maintaining remote connectivity and ensuring continuous power supply in a country where power outages can last up to twenty hours a day in some provinces.
This trend emerges in the context of the largest Cuban exodus in recent history. More than one million people left the island between 2021 and 2025, leaving families divided between Cuba and the diaspora, mainly in the United States.
Cubans crossing the U.S. border reached record numbers: 224,607 in 2022 and 200,287 in 2023, according to immigration data.
Videos about nostalgia, family separation, and the pain of distance are constantly going viral on TikTok among Cubans both on and off the island, as reflected in a documented trend in recent months.
Remote surveillance cameras have thus become a silent and one-sided solution to the pain of separation: seeing without being seen, being present without being there. "Only those of us who are far away understand this pain," wrote @lais28311 alongside their video.
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