A Cuban woman identified on TikTok as Glenda (@glen_mc04) moved thousands of users this week by posting the reunion with her brother after three years of separation, in a 21-second video that captures the exact moment he greets her barefoot with hugs.
The author herself summarized the moment with a single phrase in the clip's description: "A hug from my brother and my life began to smile again."
The video, released on July 24, was accompanied by the song "Cuando nos volvamos a encontrar," whose lyrics seem to be written for these kinds of reunions: "There will be no more tears spilled on your pillow, there will be no tomorrow that doesn't want to embrace you."
The detail of the barefoot brother did not go unnoticed among the followers, who filled the comments section with messages of identification and nostalgia.
This reunion is part of a trend that continues to grow on TikTok: Cubans living abroad who document their return to the island after years away. A Cuban returned to Cuba after nine years and shared her reunion on the same day, July 24; another resident in Spain returned after four years and seven months and reunited with her mother and sister on July 20; a Cuban from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, showed his first return after three years on July 15; and another reunited with his wife, mother, and sister on July 3.
The emotional magnitude of these videos has a demographic background that explains everything.
According to data from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), approximately 245,264 Cubans emigrated in 2025, leaving the island's population at just 9,434,593 inhabitants. Since 2021, more than a million people have left the country, and the Cuban government itself estimates that over three million Cubans reside abroad.
Return trips, for their part, have also plummeted: they fell by 22.6% in 2025, with 228,091 visitors compared to 294,816 in 2024, and in January 2026, the decline was 40.2% year-over-year.
That combination —more emigration, fewer returns— turns each reunion into an extraordinary event for the families that remain on the island waiting.
In September 2025, Cuban Raidel Ramírez starred in a similar moment that went viral as he took off his shoes to step on his homeland upon returning after three years away, in an image that resonated deeply with the diaspora.
The video of Glenda accumulated 27,700 views and more than 1,200 reactions, figures that reflect how many Cubans see themselves in that embrace.
Filed under: