The Cuban influencer Ultrack (Jorge Ramón Batista Calero) published a video on TikTok this Thursday to respond to those who ask why he stopped discussing the Cuban dictatorship and communism in his content, making it clear that his silence does not imply a change in ideological stance.
In the video posted on his TikTok account, Ultrack directly responds to a user identified as @Jose@Murcia, who questioned whether he had forgotten that communism still exists in Cuba. The response was emphatic: "I haven't forgotten, I still say the same: the best communist, the dead communist."
The Holguin creator, who has been based in the United States since 2016, clarified that his transition from YouTube to TikTok does not imply an ideological shift. “It doesn't mean that just because I’m not doing my YouTube channel I think differently; I think the same,” he affirmed.
What has changed, he explained, is the type of content he chooses to produce on his new platform. Ultrack recalled that in the past many warned him that without speaking about Cuba he would be nobody: "I remember all those people, and maybe you were one of them, who said: the day I stop talking about the dictatorship, I don't know how I will make a living."
His response to those critics was straightforward: "If you don't talk about Cuba, you're nobody. Well, look, I left YouTube, created my platform on TikTok, and I don't talk about any of that, and I'm still living."
To illustrate his decision, Ultrack used a metaphor about theater and cinema. He said that since he was a child, he has never liked theater and that he prefers action, adventure, or science fiction movies, "the ones that get your adrenaline pumping."
He then added, "I like the real stuff, so that's why I prefer watching movies to going to the theater. I don't know if you understood me, and I might not even be talking about movies or theater, so I'll leave it at that."
The metaphor points to a debate that frequently circulates within the Cuban exile community: whether political content creators speak about Cuba out of genuine conviction or as a matter of audience strategy. Ultrack turns the argument around by demonstrating that it can do without the subject and still achieve success.
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