Three days after stepping foot on Brazilian soil for the first time in her life, Cuban singer and influencer Mary Martínez walked into a supermarket and ended up crying among the aisles. What would be a routine shopping trip for anyone else turned into one of the most emotional moments of her departure from Cuba, and she shared it in a video posted on TikTok and Instagram that quickly went viral.
Mary had revealed days before that she had left Cuba for the first time in her life, with a stopover in Panama and a destination that she kept secret. That destination turned out to be Brazil, where she has a sister, and it was there that she lived this experience that marked her.
"I've been in Brazil for three days, and I've seen things I never thought I would see in my life. But I never imagined I would feel sad in a supermarket. You don't find that in the corner store," he says in the clip, recorded in front of shelves filled with fresh fruits and all kinds of products.
What struck her the most was not the abundance itself, but the immediate thought of those she left behind on the island.
"It's very shocking to see how in one place there are all the things that practically don't exist in Cuba. In that moment, you start to think about your family, and I swear it even takes away your appetite," he confessed.
In the comments on Instagram, Mary added a detail that captures the emotional weight of the moment: "It made me very emotional to see the raisins that my mom loves and not be able to give them to her."
As a reference for the gap between both realities, he mentioned the price of oil in Cuba: "It's hard to believe this when a bottle of oil in Cuba costs 6,000 pesos". This price is not an exaggeration: following the removal of price caps under Resolution 150/2026, the oil reached that price on the island in August 2026.
Mary also acknowledged that her experience is not unique: "I think this is something that happens to the vast majority of Cubans who manage to leave the island. These are things that hit hard, and the truth is they feel very strange."
The so-called "supermarket shock" is a recurring viral phenomenon since 2023. Dozens of Cubans who are leaving the island for the first time have documented similar reactions in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Spain, and Brazil itself, where another Cuban took his mother to a supermarket for the first time with equally emotional results.
The video of Mary accumulated over 52,000 views on TikTok and 17,000 likes on Instagram, with hundreds of comments from Cubans who identified with every word.
Despite the sadness of the moment, the young woman —who has 667,000 followers on Instagram— ended the video with a phrase that resonated with her community: "I have hope that Cuba can one day look like this."
Filed under: