A Cuban resident in Spain identified as Laurens González published a video on TikTok this Monday, where she explains why she emigrated from Cuba, despite acknowledging that she lived materially better there than in her current destination.
"When I lived in Cuba, I lived better than here in Spain," the woman states at the beginning of the video, anticipating the reaction that this phrase often provokes. "Every time I say this, everyone tells me to go back to my country, but I'm not going to leave because I am free to choose where I want to live."
Laurens describes a personal economic situation that does not fit the image of an emigrant fleeing poverty. "No matter how much need there was in my country, at the moment I left Cuba, I personally lacked absolutely nothing," he states. He had a comfortable home, food, and everything necessary to live, "even more than here in Spain."
His family, as he recounts, had no connections or privileges within the system. "I didn't have any relatives in power or friends in power; we were just ordinary citizens like others, with a slightly different mindset and a strong desire to get ahead, even though it held us back a lot."
The reason for the emigration, she clearly emphasizes, was not herself but her children. "Yes, I emigrated, not for myself, but for my children, because I already had my future." Education was the decisive factor: "The education of my children, I always said that my children were not going to study in the Cuban educational system, and for that reason, only for them, I took a plane so they could have a better quality of life and a better education."
He acknowledges, however, that there were things on the island that were beyond his control. "There are things I couldn't control, like light, water, the basic necessities of the country, because I took care of finding food and everything else."
The testimony comes at a time of serious deterioration of the Cuban educational system, which the regime has partially acknowledged. The 2025-2026 school year started with approximately 24,000 fewer teachers than needed, as admitted by the Minister of Education herself. The government suspended university entrance exams for the 2026-2027 academic year and advanced the school year closure to the period between June 15 and June 30 due to the energy and transportation crisis.
Power outages, which in some areas exceed 20 hours daily, directly impact school attendance and the learning of children throughout the island.
This migration pattern —mothers and fathers who emigrate not due to personal shortages but because of the lack of future for their children— is recurrent among the Cuban diaspora in Spain. Between 2023 and the first three quarters of 2024, 53,100 Cubans arrived in the country according to the National Institute of Statistics, and more than 176,000 Cuban residents are estimated to be in Spanish territory.
Laurens concludes her video with a statement that encapsulates the contradiction faced by many Cuban emigrants: "I am extremely grateful to Spain and where I ended up because they opened the door for me and I have met some truly wonderful people," but she insists that while living in Cuba, she was better off than she is now. In the video description, she wrote: "Grateful to Spain a thousand times over, but proud to be Cuban and to have grown up there because I learned how to get by in a country without a future that clipped your wings."
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