A Cuban living abroad returned to Camagüey and posted a video from Cuba eating fresh mango this Tuesday, with an enthusiasm that starkly contrasts with the crisis the island is facing: power outages of up to 24 hours, food shortages, and rampant inflation.
The creator of the clip, identified as @airinperez2 (AiriNails Shop), is seen enjoying the fruit directly while exclaiming: "This is the real one, the original, the true mango flavor." The hashtags of the video —#cubanosporelmundo, #regresoacuba, and #camaguey— confirm that this is someone who lives outside of Cuba and has temporarily returned to the island.
The most celebrated moment of the clip comes when the woman, with evident delight, utters the phrase that sums up her experience: "If you don't eat mango like this, you don't know what life is."
July marks the end of mango season in Cuba, which runs from March to July, peaking between May and June, explaining the availability of fresh fruit in Camagüey at this time.
However, that same mango, which the Cuban celebrates as a sensory luxury, is becoming an increasingly unattainable product for those living on the island day to day. The price of a pound of mango reached 200 Cuban pesos in May 2026, while an orange reached 1,000 pesos and an apple 500 pesos, prices that are prohibitive for most Cubans with state salaries.
The energy crisis further exacerbates this situation. Cuba is experiencing in 2026 the worst electrical crisis in its history, with blackouts exceeding 20 hours a day and a record deficit of 2,174 MW recorded in May, leaving 70% of the island without electricity simultaneously. In the past 18 months, there have been at least seven national collapses of the electrical system.
In places like Los Mangos, in Matanzas, residents endured 72 consecutive hours without electricity, with only two hours of power throughout that period.
The video by @airinperez2 fits into a recurring trend on TikTok: Cuban expatriates returning to the island and sharing content that highlights simple pleasures or nostalgic moments — tropical fruits, human warmth, a life free from rental pressures — eliciting divided reactions among those who resonate with that nostalgia and those who view it as a partial perspective that overlooks everyday reality.
A similar case occurred on June 26, when a Cuban who has lived in the United States for ten years argued that owning a home in Cuba is equivalent to being "a millionaire without having millions in your account," sparking a similar debate on social media.
The video's own creator concludes the clip with a humorous remark about herself after finishing her meal: "I look like a pig, a fly," a comment that reflects the intensity with which she enjoyed the fruit, but also unintentionally summarizes the gap between the Cuba that is visited and the Cuba that is lived.
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