The activist Yureibys Torresilla, known in Sancti Spíritus as "The Hero," closed this Sunday with a happy ending the story of the backpack filled with money he found in his neighborhood: he managed to locate its rightful owner and returned it with all its contents intact.
The owner turned out to be Maury, the proprietor of a small business located right across from the activist's home, at Independence Street #203.
Torresilla announced the delivery on her Facebook profile with a photograph alongside Maury, both holding the black backpack in front of the house entrance.
“A pleasure to be able to return the backpack with all the money to its rightful owner, by the way a tremendous human being, who helps elderly people in need at his point of sale. Maury, a pleasure to return your backpack...your money,” wrote Torresilla.
Hours earlier, the activist had published the finding to locate the owner.
The backpack, from the brand Nike, contained several bundles of bills in denominations of 20, 50, 100, and 200 Cuban pesos, but it did not have any identification inside.
To prevent someone from claiming the money without being the true owner, Torresilla devised a verification mechanism: he kept details about an item that was inside the backpack, the description of which only the legitimate owner would know.
"There's something inside, and whoever comes must tell me what it is," he warned in the comments of his post.
The strategy apparently worked. Maury, who lives or works just a few meters from where the backpack was lost, was reportedly able to identify the object and recover his money.
The original post generated mixed reactions among its followers. Some praised him for his honesty; others warned him about the risks of having published his address alongside the contents of the backpack.
The follower Nelys Valdés wrote to her: "Be careful, they could get your address and come looking for you, don't trust anyone," although she acknowledged that Torresilla "has a big heart and is very honest."
Ana Sofia Cardoso Curras went further and suggested that it could be a trap: “Be very careful, they might have set a bait for you, there’s something fishy about this. Take a photo of whoever comes to claim it, and when you hand it over, do it in front of at least three witnesses.”
The activist calmly responded to both warnings: "No ma'am, thank you, but that's not how it is... someone dropped it."
The gesture takes on particular significance in the context of the severe economic crisis that Cuba is facing, where any amount of cash represents a significant asset for a family.
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