A Cuban resident in Thailand has caught attention on Instagram with a reel in which she humorously depicts the contradictions of her daily life in that Asian country, from haggling in the markets to the trauma of power outages that, she says, haunt her even thousands of kilometers away from Cuba.
Rose Mary Ortega published the video on her Instagram account using the repetitive structure "I’m Cuban living in Thailand and obviously..." to link a series of situations recognizable to any Cuban emigrant.
The first touch of humor comes from the phrase that serves as the title of the video: "People tell me I left Guatemala only to end up in a worse situation," an expression in Spanish that describes moving from a bad situation to an even worse one. In her case, it refers to the fact that Thailand is not exactly the destination most people envision when thinking about emigration.
The reel also reveals that Rose Mary previously lived in Italy, marking another step in a multi-stage migration journey: "People tell me I shouldn’t have left Italy," she points out in the video, suggesting that the leap from Europe to Asia was not entirely well-received by those around her.
Among the situations described, one of the most discussed is the surprise of discovering fellow countrymen in such a distant destination: "I thought there were no Cubans here until I started creating content," she says, acknowledging that the Cuban community in Thailand exists, albeit small.
Another moment from the video connects directly with Cuban culture: "I haggle over prices even at the market, sweetheart," a habit that has even made its way to Thai markets.
The closing of the reel is the most meaningful: “When the lights go out, I think that blackouts are chasing me,” a direct reference to the serious energy crisis that Cuba has been facing for years, with power cuts exceeding 20 hours a day in many provinces. The trauma is so deep that any blackout abroad, regardless of the country or the brief duration, immediately evokes the reality of the island.
Thailand is an unusual destination for the Cuban diaspora, which historically concentrates in the United States, Spain, or Latin America. However, since July 2024, Cubans can enter the country visa-free for up to 60 days for tourism purposes, which has made initial access to Thai territory easier, although permanent residency requires additional permits.
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