A Cuban resident in the United States shared the dilemma she faced when her best friend, who still lives on the island, asked her for 5,000 dollars to cover her migration journey, in a video posted on TikTok last Friday.
Yessi the mulata, as she is known on that platform, recounted that upon reading her friend's message, she didn't know how to respond: "Friend, you've been in the United States for two years, help me, I can’t bear this situation any longer, I need to make this journey and I have no one else to turn to."
The video helped Yessi to break a widely held myth in Cuba: the idea that those who emigrate to the United States automatically have "plenty of money and their lives sorted."
"From Cuba, many people think that when you arrive here, dollars start falling from the sky," said the creator, adding, "But no one sees the early mornings going to work, the bills, the rent, the fatigue, or the times you forgo buying something for yourself so that your children don't go without."
Yessi was clear in describing the reality of recent emigrants: "Migrating doesn't make you wealthy. Overnight, you have to start from scratch, make sacrifices, and fight every day."
At the same time, the Cuban avoided judging her friend: "I don't judge my friend because I too dreamed of a better future," she acknowledged.
The case of Yessi is not isolated. A Cuban in the United States exploded in March because her relatives on the island only contacted her to ask for money, and another Cuban announced in June that she cut off communication with people in Cuba because every conversation ended in requests for top-ups or shipments.
In May, another creator lashed out at those asking her for money from Cuba for non-essential expenses while she was worn out from work.
The pattern is consistent: the economic crisis that Cuba has been experiencing since 2021, marked by shortages of food, medicine, and prolonged blackouts, has turned emigrants into the main support for their family and friendship networks on the island, regardless of their actual situation abroad.
The $5,000 that Yessi's friend is asking for far exceeds the usual cost of the most well-documented migration routes, which in 2025-2026 range between $1,000 and $2,000 through Guyana or Brazil, suggesting a more complex route or additional expenses associated with the process.
According to data from 2026, 92% of the remittances that Cuba receives come from the United States, and Cubans in Miami send an average of 2,165 dollars per year to their families, combining cash, top-ups, and shipments in kind, a figure that demonstrates the genuine effort behind each transfer.
Yessi ended her video with an open question that sparked debate in the comments: "If you were in my place, what would you do? Would you help her even if it completely threw you off balance, or would you think first of your family?"
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