A nighttime fight with knife threats, hours of tension, and a woman who refused to leave until she was paid: this is what two foreign influencers experienced live while staying in Old Havana. The content creator @danalucia.s documented it in an Instagram reel that has once again highlighted the social deterioration occurring in Cuba.
The incident occurred right in front of the accommodation where the influencer and her partner were staying, in the heart of the historic center of the capital. According to the account in the video, the commotion lasted for hours into the early morning, preventing them from getting any rest.
"It could be heard at times as threats of: 'I saw you with the knife, I saw you with the knife,'" one of them describes in the reel.
The creators explain that everything started with a demand for money: "And the whole fight was about money. In fact, the woman said to him: I'm not leaving here until you give me my money."
"There was a moment when we could no longer sleep, and we were just waiting for it to be over," they add, confessing that at times they felt afraid that something worse could happen.
The disputed amount was 5,000 Cuban pesos, which the influencer herself estimated to be "between 10 and 12 dollars." At the informal exchange rate in effect this Thursday —670 Cuban pesos per dollar according to— that sum equals just about 7.46 dollars.
"The amount of money that sparked this whole show for hours last night... 5,000 Cuban pesos, between 10 and 12 dollars," summarize the influencers, before concluding: "In other words, to show you the situation in the country. Yes, the economic situation."
Content creators do not present the episode as an isolated anecdote, but rather as a direct symptom of the crisis the island is experiencing. By the end of the video, they even show the streets overflowing with garbage.
"This is the old quarter in Havana. Look at these streets, look at these buildings. It's the old quarter, but normal people live here. And all of that happened out here," concludes the influencer in the video.
This video is part of a growing trend of foreign content creators documenting the reality of Cuba. A YouTuber recently ventured into a neighborhood in Havana and shared what he found, while three Spanish YouTubers from the Black Mango channel were interrogated by State Security after publishing content about the crisis in Cuba in May 2025. In this case, however, there was no report: it was a spontaneous account of the social violence they experienced firsthand.
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