The Cuban content creator known on Instagram as @keki_mami announced this week that she left Cuba with her young daughter and emigrated to Brazil, in a video that touched thousands of followers due to the rawness with which she described the emotional weight of that decision.
"My days in Cuba looked like this. That's why I finally left. And not because I stopped loving my country. On the contrary, I believe I never loved it more than the day I realized I had to say goodbye to it," said the creator in the reel posted on Instagram.
The video does not portray emigration as a triumph, but rather as a painful and inevitable break.
"Emigration doesn't begin when you purchase a ticket. It starts much earlier. It begins the day you lie down asking yourself if your child deserves to continue growing amid so many limitations," he stated.
The decision, in her own words, came when the fear of staying outweighed the fear of leaving: "I had a little girl by the hand and a whole life on the other side of the door. I knew exactly what I was going to lose, but I had no idea what was waiting for me."
The creator described what she left behind with a precision that resonated with those who have lived a similar experience: "I left behind hugs that cannot be replaced, people I would give anything to see again. Memories that will never be repeated. And a piece of my heart that will always stay there."
The driving force behind her departure was, according to her, a mother's love: "There comes a moment in a mother's life when she stops thinking about what she can endure and begins to focus only on what her child deserves."
At the end of the video, @keki_mami addressed those who have gone through the same experience: "There are pains that only those who one day had to leave their soul behind can understand. Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for us. I don’t know what awaits us, but I promise to show you everything. The beautiful, the difficult, the falls, and also the victories."
In January of this year, @keki_mami went viral for celebrating her first TikTok payment from Cuba and buying a refrigerator, becoming a symbol of the creative economy on the island.
In March, it was revealed that she and her partner had sold their homes with the intention of emigrating, although the plan did not materialize at that time.
In June, she starred in another viral video in which she criticized Cubans abroad who attack those showcasing personal achievements from the island.
With over 245,000 followers on Instagram, @keki_mami was known for showcasing daily life in Cuba—blackouts, water shortages, adaptation strategies—without resorting to a narrative of constant suffering, which garnered her both followers and criticism.
His destination, Brazil, is not coincidental. Cubans surpassed Venezuelans for the first time as the main group applying for asylum in that country in 2025.
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