Yasiel Morera Betancourt, known among his friends as "El Conde," died on the night of August 23 in an accident while working in the state of New Mexico, leaving his wife and loved ones engulfed in an unexpected grief.
He was 34 years old. According to the fundraising campaign launched on GoFundMe by his wife, content creator Estefani Borroto Díaz—known on social media as Fany Díaz— the accident was fatal and Yasiel died instantly, far away from the home they had both built.
A call that moved thousands
Fany Díaz (@fany9707) herself posted a video this Tuesday on TikTok in which, visibly affected, she asked her followers to help spread the campaign to cover the expenses resulting from her husband's death.
“Today is a video where I have no filter, where I'm not the Fanny you know from the videos,” she said at the beginning of the clip with tears in her eyes.
“He was thirty-four years old, young. He had a fatal accident and died instantly,” she added while describing the death of her husband, of
The video has gone viral in just a few hours, currently boasting over 592,000 views, 44,000 reactions, and more than 4,200 comments, turning the case into a massive call for solidarity within the Cuban community on social media.
Fany explained the family's plan in straightforward terms: “He is in New Mexico, we need to bring him to Miami so we can cremate him and then send the ashes to his mom.”
And he closed the video with a message that touched many: “All those people on the road, take care of yourselves, take care of yourselves a lot.”
The family, shattered
In the fundraising campaign, Estefani described Yasiel as someone who left a lasting impression on those who knew him.
“He was a joyful man, full of life, one of those who could bring happiness to any place simply with his presence,” he wrote on the fundraising page.
Estefani's words on GoFundMe summed up the urgency of the situation: "We need your support to gather the necessary resources to bring his body back to Miami, where he called home, so that his wife and family can say their goodbyes with dignity."
Her sister Yusleidys Morera also spoke out on Facebook with a heartbreaking message:
"For my brother Yasiel Morera Betancourt, I ask God to help the foreign authorities conclude their investigations quickly so that he can be sent back to Cuba. It has been a very hard blow, and our family is devastated; I never imagined going through such painful moments."
The initial goal of the campaign was to raise $15,000 to cover transportation from New Mexico and funeral expenses.
The response so far has exceeded that expectation: 818 donors contributed a total of $22,693, surpassing the goal by more than six thousand dollars.
A painful pattern in the Cuban diaspora
Yasiel's case is not the first, nor unfortunately will it be the last.
Repatriating a body from the United States to Cuba can cost between $6,800 and over $20,000 depending on the city of origin and the procedures involved, a process that can also extend in time and involves death certificates, consular permits, and coordination with funeral homes and airlines.
Cremation and the shipping of ashes—the option chosen by Yasiel's family—are considerably more economical and straightforward.
In February of this year, the Cuban community raised over $16,500 to repatriate the remains of Rafael Jesús Gómez Collado, a 25-year-old who passed away in Austin, Texas.
Similar cases have occurred in May and August, highlighting that solidarity on social media has become the only real lifeline for many Cuban families in the diaspora who lose a loved one far from home and without the resources to cover the costs of the final journey.
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