Elliot El Guiri, an American content creator based in Málaga, Spain, published a series of videos this year showcasing his travels in Cuba that have gone viral on social media, with a clear message: communism is responsible for the country’s destruction, not the U.S. embargo.
The most striking reel of the series has gathered over 14,500 views, 916 likes, and 353 comments on Facebook. In that video, Elliot shows Cuban farmers living in dilapidated houses, cooking with charcoal, and almost exclusively feeding on sugar cane, while vast stretches of land remain in the hands of the State.
"Communism destroys everything it touches," claims the creator in the audiovisual. "This is what Fidel Castro fought for: to make people poor."
Elliot, originally from Wisconsin and known on social media as @el.guiri.de.malaga or Adventurer Elliot, explored areas in Eastern Cuba that, as he himself acknowledges, hardly receive foreign tourists, especially amid the fuel crisis that the island is experiencing.
One of his stops was Baracoa, the second oldest city in the Americas, which he visited at night during a power outage. What he found was a city with all its buildings constructed before 1959 and in a state of disrepair, while people slept on the streets.
"The true culprit is the socialist policy of Cuba, because all these buildings you see here were built before 1959 and are falling apart," he pointed out in another of his reels recorded in Baracoa. "How does Cuba have money to build new hotels and not have money to fix this type of infrastructure?"
The YouTuber also documented the contradictions of the Cuban agricultural model: farmers are required to hand over most of their harvests to the government without any economic incentive, and for years there was a law that prohibited killing one’s own cows, which led people to abandon livestock farming.
"Those are the things they don't tell you about socialist policies," he pointed out.
During his travels through rural areas, Elliot spoke with former supporters of the regime who have changed their stance. "They are true revolutionaries, staunch followers of Fidel Castro, but almost none support the current government. That is the truth," he asserted.
Despite the bleak outlook, the creator highlighted the hospitality of the Cuban people. In one of his videos, he left his camera and money unattended in the middle of the street and claimed he never felt in danger at any moment. "Cubans are incredible people," he said.
In Havana, Elliot showed a nurse selling garlic and other products on a corner in Centro Habana: "There are no jobs, there is no food," said the content creator.
Elliot was adamant in rejecting the argument that the U.S. embargo is the main cause of the crisis: "This is not America's fault; it is the result of failed policies over 67 years. Absolutely shameful."
It is not the first time this creator has documented Cuban reality. In May 2025, he went viral by showcasing crumbling buildings inhabited in Havana, with over 2.1 million views on TikTok, and in June of that year, he published images of a garage in Havana where around 500 people lived crowded together without running water.
His Cuban series from 2026 offers a deeper look into the interior of the country, away from tourist circuits, and its conclusion leaves no room for ambiguity: "Communism destroyed Cuba. Nothing more, nothing less."
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