The Cuban influencer Yeison López (@hermandadtmph) revealed on Tuesday that the bicycle promised to the boy Dainer had already been purchased before launching the public challenge that mobilized thousands of followers on social media.
López published the hard story of Dainer, a 12-year-old boy from Bahía Honda, Artemisa, who works trimming palm trees and walks kilometers barefoot to get to school.
Additionally, he had promised to buy him a bicycle if the video reached 100,000 likes. However, in a comment on his own post, the content creator admitted that the decision had already been made before filming.
“I will be honest, the bike was purchased before making this video, but among all the junk content that appears on our networks, I want to give you the chance to be a part of this with your likes and interactions, so that you feel in some way that it was you who gifted the bike, because that’s truly the case. Without God and your support, none of this would be possible,” he wrote.
The confession, far from generating rejection, amplified the emotional impact of the campaign and garnered thousands of additional reactions.
Dainer became known among López's followers in mid-July when the influencer encountered him during a morning run in the rural settlement of Montaña, and the boy followed him barefoot throughout the entire route.
When asked why he wasn't going to school, Dainer responded with a phrase that moved thousands: "I can go by bike, which I don't have. I wish I did".
The minor was not a stranger to the creator's community. On July 18, a reel featuring palm tree pruners starring Dainer and Raidel, a 25-year-old with a decade of experience in that trade, had garnered over 450,000 views and more than 140,000 likes.
In that video, recorded at five in the morning, both appeared climbing royal palms over twenty meters tall, using only homemade ropes to cut bunches of palm fruit, which is mainly intended to feed pigs.
Dainer's grandmother, who is in charge of him and his little sister, proudly described the boy: "Daini, my grandson, is very good. He works with people and things like that. What I always tell him is that he has to fight."
López, who emigrated from Cuba at the age of 15 and currently lives in Asia, returned to the island to document daily life in rural areas through his Instagram account, which has over 600,000 followers.
He clarified that his intention was not to romanticize the situation: "With this post, I do not intend to romanticize this lifestyle in children; I am simply sharing the reality that many live, and I believe we should respect it rather than rush to make criticisms without understanding it deeply."
The story of Dainer reflects a documented reality in Cuba. The Cuban Conflict Observatory recorded 71 reports of child labor and begging in 2025, while the government itself acknowledged that nearly 200,000 minors are in a vulnerable situation.
Despite this, the Union of Young Communists denied in June that child labor exists in Cuba, a statement that generated widespread backlash on social media.
The economic context exacerbates the situation: the official minimum wage has been set at 3,210 pesos —about 4.65 dollars— as of July 1, 2026, while economists estimate that a person needs around 96,000 pesos per month to cover their basic needs.
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