A Cuban resident in Cancún posted a video on TikTok in which she confessed that her family decided to stay home due to the hostile environment towards Cubans in the city.
"The mood here in Cancún is quite heated," stated user @maryfra.21, urging that hatred between both nationalities should not be encouraged.
"My family and I have decided not to leave the house, just stepping out for a moment today to do some shopping, and I think we won't be going out again until all of this calms down," she stated in the video.
The immediate trigger was an incident that occurred on May 28 in Supermanzana 23 of Cancún, where a Cuban citizen unofficially identified as Rigoberto «N» physically assaulted a Mexican man who was confronting him about his dog biting without a leash.
The video of the assault went viral on social media, and hours later, nearly 200 people gathered outside the Cuban's home, throwing stones and bottles, causing significant damage to the property: broken windows, damaged doors, and a destroyed gate.
The security operation deployed included Municipal Police, State Police, the Mexican Army, the National Guard, the Navy, and riot control teams, and the crowd dispersed around 9:30 PM.
Rigoberto "N" and his partner Yudelmis "N" —who was pregnant and received pre-hospital care— were transferred to the National Migration Institute, which has up to 15 business days to resolve their situation, with the possibility of repatriation to Cuba.
The Cuban TikToker acknowledged that this is not the first time such situations have occurred, but she urged people to remain calm: "Everything will pass, everything will calm down. You know why it has to happen, because hatred leads to nothing good. Let's hope all of this passes and that hatred between both nationalities is no longer encouraged."
The incident is not isolated. The Cuban community in Mexico has broken the silence with the message "Not all of us are alike," expressing gratitude for Mexican hospitality and calling for the entire community not to be stigmatized.
Marylín Torres Leal, president of the CISVAC foundation, warned that since the beginning of 2026, discrimination against Cubans in Cancun has been increasing: difficulty in finding jobs, refusal to rent them housing, insults on the street, and even signs in the city center that say "no Cubans allowed."
"Many people will pay the price for others' mistakes, which is concerning. The issue may escalate and worsen if action is not taken," warned Torres Leal.
Supermanzana 23 had already become a point of tension since April 16, when neighbors protested in front of the Benito Juárez town hall, reporting at least 10 monthly incidents of assaults and robberies in Supermanzanas 22, 23, 24, 26, and 27.
This situation is part of an unprecedented migration flow. According to a report from Human Rights Watch published on May 27, between January 2025 and March 2026, the United States deported nearly 13,000 individuals from third countries to Mexico, with Cubans being the largest group at 4,353 deported, many of whom are settled in Cancun under extremely precarious conditions and without work permits.
The immigration attorney Willy Allen III warned that xenophobia towards Cubans in Mexico is not legally sufficient to halt a deportation or to substantiate an asylum request, and that once deported to Mexico, a Cuban has no legal mechanism to claim protection back to the United States: "Once you get kicked out, there's nothing more to be done."
@maryfra.21 closed her video with a brief yet direct message: "The best thing is always to seek peace."
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