A video posted on TikTok by a Cuban living in Brazil became a striking portrayal of what it means to grow up under the Cuban dictatorship: the first visit of her parents to a supermarket, with the subtitle "My parents' first time in a market, more than 40 years without knowing what it was."
The author of the clip, identified on TikTok as @meli020217, recorded her mother and father while continually expressing her amazement at the products in the short video.
The comments section was filled with welcome messages from Brazilian users. "Welcome everyone to Brazil! My house, your house, our house!" one of them wrote. Another expressed, "It makes me very sad to think that there are many people suffering in Cuba."
But the comments that resonated the most pointed directly to the Cuban political system. The most popular one, with 228 "likes," was: "Socialism and its aftermath." The creator herself responded: "Yes, it's a process to get used to and heal."
The scene is not an isolated case. Since 2023, newly arrived Cubans abroad document the shock of the abundance of products that are scarce or simply non-existent on the island.
Brazil has become the main destination for the Cuban exodus in Latin America. In 2025, Cubans submitted 41,919 asylum applications in that country, an 88% increase compared to 2024, surpassing Venezuelans for the first time. In the first four months of 2026, another 13,414 Cubans applied for asylum in Brazil, accounting for 58% of the total applications during that period.
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