A Cuban content creator humorously and candidly listed six traits that, in her opinion, give away a compatriot newly arrived abroad, and the video quickly resonated within the diaspora.
Yunisleidy Villa publicó el clip on their TikTok account el 8 de junio con una advertencia desde el primer segundo: «¿Cómo identificar una cubana recién llegada? Obvio facilito. No se me vayan a ofender, que yo también he visto estas cosas toda la vida».
The first of his indicators points to accessories: a single pair of earrings is immediately dismissed. "Two hoops, no, that's for beginners," says Yunisleidy. She insists that newcomers leave with three or four pairs at once, based on the logic that "the more shine and more hoops, the more power."
The second feature follows the same philosophy: no chain travels alone. "The one with the name cannot be missing, the one with the little virgin, the one they bought in jelly, and another that nobody knows where it came from," the creator describes.
The third point is the emergency hairstyle: hair up in less than ten seconds, with a giant scrunchie "like the ones used in Cuba" or the classic "pinned-up messy bun." For going out, what Yunisleidy refers to as "express Caribbean elegance."
The fourth indicator is perhaps the most recognizable for any Cuban: the "folk del amarillo," that folder or plastic bag where the birth certificate, immigration papers, "a prescription from two thousand seventeen, three passport photos, and a piece of paper that no one knows what it’s for, but just in case, it’s not thrown away," coexist.
The purse ranks fifth. According to Yunisleidy, it always hides something unexpected: "a candy, a headache pill, a receipt from twenty twenty-three, two coins, an old photo, or even a piece of paper folded seventeen times."
The sixth and final trait is the relationship with discounts: if something is on sale, it gets purchased, even if it isn't needed. A habit that many Cubans recognize as a direct legacy from decades of scarcity on the island.
Este tipo de humor autocrítico, conocido en la cultura cubana como «choteo», tiene una larga tradición en las redes sociales de la diáspora. Viral Cuban women washing their hair con cubo de agua, guardando bolsas de nailon o exprimiendo hasta el último resto de pasta dental son imágenes que generan el mismo reconocimiento colectivo.
In January of this year, another Cuban who recently arrived in Mexico went viral by showing her nervousness in front of an escalator, and in April a video listed the things that reveal a Cuban as Latina after years of living outside the island.
Yunisleidy ended her video with a clarification that many in the comments appreciated: "Just so it’s clear, it's meant for laughs. I didn’t intend to go hard, nor should you think I’m attacking them."
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