A monologue featuring the Cuban actress Yia Caamaño became one of the most discussed videos in the online Cuban community this weekend.
The video was posted on Instagram where it has garnered over 100,000 views in less than 24 hours and more than 12,600 likes. It is titled "They Should Leave" and is based on a text by the Cuban playwright Freddys Núñez Estenoz. The direction is by Caamaño herself and the Cuban filmmaker Jhona Tome, who also handled the cinematography and editing.
The monologue carries a message for the leaders of the Cuban regime. From the very first moment, Caamaño's voice leaves no room for ambiguity: "You should leave, pack your bags, fill them with all your millions, and go. I sincerely wish you bad luck on your journey. I sincerely wish you the worst."
The text neither offers nor requests forgiveness. "Do not ask for forgiveness, it is not necessary. No forgiveness is possible," says the actress, before transitioning to one of the most powerful images that directly refers to the blackouts suffocating Cuba.
"They should leave at dawn, when no one is sleeping. Because for a long time now, no one has been able to sleep. Too much darkness to sleep, too much darkness to dream."
Far from nostalgia, the text transforms memory into a warning. "We will not miss them, we will remember them. Remembering them is the only way to prevent this catastrophe from happening again."
The monologue culminates in a vision of hope for the Cuban diaspora, which in recent years has reached historic levels of emigration.
"They should leave, and they will see how thousands will return. What am I saying, thousands? Millions, and we will break the record for hugs in a single night," says Caamaño, before the most emphatic closing of the text: "Because it would be wonderful to celebrate their non-existence."
Caamaño is one of the most recognized actresses on Cuban television, with leading roles in soap operas such as Asuntos pendientes and El rostro de los días. Since February 2023, she has been residing in Miami and she obtained permanent residency in the United States in May 2024.
The author of the text, Freddys Núñez Estenoz, is a playwright from Camagüey and the founder of the collective Teatro del Viento, known for both his stage work and his public denunciations of the health crisis and governmental neglect in Cuba.
The fact that his text was already circulating on social media before being adapted into audiovisual format suggests that the monologue had prior resonance within the Cuban community.
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