A video posted in the Facebook group Revolico Imias Plus moved hundreds of thousands as it showed the moment when Juan Carlos Acosta, a young man from the municipality of Imías in the province of Guantánamo, says farewell to his grandmother before emigrating to Mexico.
The clip, a little over three minutes long, garnered more than 248,000 views and 28,810 likes in just a few days, becoming one of those testimonies that the Cuban diaspora identifies as their own.
In the images, we see the grandmother, an elderly woman who acknowledges that she is unwell, trying to hold back her grandson's tears.
"Don't cry for me, because it makes me cry too, and that's worse; it makes me feel bad," she says while hugging him. At another moment, with a serenity that breaks the heart, she warns him: "When I die, they'll let you know," as if she wants to settle what she knows may happen before they meet again.
Acosta will first travel to Havana and will then depart for Mexico. Upon posting the video, he wrote: "This is the hardest farewell that a human being can experience, to embrace their only grandmother without knowing if it will be the last time they hug. My dear old lady, I love you so much and every day I ask God to grant you good health and many more years of life so that we can hug once again."
The elderly woman, aware of her age and ailments, does not ask her grandson to stay. She entrusts him with the care of his mother, to write to her, and to wish her well. It is she who offers encouragement, who supports the young man.
The response in the comments was immediate and overwhelming. "Those goodbyes hurt in the soul; only those of us who have been through this know," wrote one user.
Another person asked with barely contained anger, "Who the hell is going to pay for these tears? Many Cubans go through this, and it hurts a lot. What a brave grandmother."
A third comment summed up what many feel: "The saddest thing is that thousands of us suffer from that departure, often without hugs, trying not to cry to avoid increasing the pain." Someone confessed, "They have made me cry and I don't even know them."
Acosta also published a second video, in a playful tone, saying goodbye to his uncle. He wrote: "Those goodbyes hit us hard in our lives. You are my favorite uncle, and one day, not too far away, we will share together again."
Imías is located in Guantánamo, one of the provinces with the highest historical emigration rates in Cuba. The province lost 40,000 inhabitants due to the exodus in recent years. Between 2013 and 2017, between 4,000 and 7,000 people left each year.
Mexico has established itself as one of the main destinations for this emigration. In 2024, more than 169,000 people of Cuban nationality entered that country by air, according to the Mexican Secretariat of the Interior.
Behind every number, there is a scene like that of Juan Carlos and his grandmother, an embrace that no one knows if it will be the last, and an elderly woman who holds back her tears so that her grandson can leave without the extra burden he already carries.
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