A 12-year-old boy running barefoot four kilometers at dawn, climbing palm trees over twenty meters high with homemade ropes to make a living, and he doesn't have a bike to get to school.
This is the story of Dainer, a minor living in the rural settlement of Montaña, in the municipality of Bahía Honda, in the province of Artemisa, and whose reality moved thousands of people after being documented by the Cuban content creator Yeison López on his Instagram account @hermandadtmph.
López, a 25-year-old who emigrated from Cuba at 15 and now lives in Asia, recently returned to his hometown to document the daily life of its residents.
During a morning run, he ran into Dainer, who followed him barefoot throughout the entire route. When asked about school, the boy replied with a simplicity that broke the hearts of those who saw the video: “I can go by bike, which I do not have. I wish I had one.”
The grandmother of the minor, who is in charge of him and his little sister, spoke proudly about her grandson in front of the camera: "Daini, my grandson, is really good. He works with people and that sort of thing. What I always tell him is that he has to be aware."
Dainer is no stranger to López's followers. Just weeks earlier, the same boy had starred in a viral reel about palm trimmers that garnered 140,000 likes and over 3,000 comments.
In that video, filmed at five in the morning, Dainer appeared alongside Raidel, a 25-year-old young man who has been in this profession for a decade, climbing tall royal palms to cut clusters of palm fruit —a fruit mainly used to feed pigs—.
The work is as dangerous as it is necessary. "The most dangerous thing is that a rope breaks or the palm falls," Raidel warned in that video.
A "horse" of palm trees —10 bunches— is sold for about 1,500 Cuban pesos, just two dollars; however, in a country where state jobs pay between eight and ten dollars a month, that income is relatively high.
The official minimum wage in Cuba has been set at 3,210 pesos —around 4.65 dollars— starting from July 1, 2026, while economists estimate that a person needs about 96,000 pesos per month to meet their basic needs.
López described Dainer as "a clear example of resilience and willpower" and clarified that his intention is not to romanticize that reality: "With this publication, I do not intend to romanticize this lifestyle for children; I am simply sharing the reality that many face, and I believe we should respect it instead of rushing to make criticisms without a deep understanding."
Dainer's case fits into a pattern that repeats across the island.
The increase of child labor in Cuba has been documented by the Cuban Observatory of Conflicts, which recorded 71 reports in 2025, while the government itself acknowledged that nearly 200,000 minors are in vulnerable situations.
Despite this, the Union of Young Communists publicly denied in June 2026 that child labor existed in Cuba, a statement that generated widespread backlash.
In light of Dainer's story, López issued a challenge to his community of over 600,000 followers: «If this video reaches 100,000 likes, I will personally buy him the bicycle this week. Let's go for it, we can do it, I want this!»
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