A Cuban resident in the United States became a trend on TikTok after posting a video in which she lashes out at her relatives on the island for their constant requests for money and products, without understanding the real effort involved in making a living abroad.
Yeisla Colina filmed the clip from her car while working as a delivery driver for Spark Driver —Walmart's independent delivery platform— in heavy rain. The video, published on August 28, garnered over 165,000 views, 9,713 likes, 1,162 comments, and 2,239 shares in just a few days.
"For the relatives in Cuba who say that one can easily make a hundred dollars in the United States, look where I am doing Spark Drive under a heavy downpour because I'm fed up with the situation. They're asking for everything, begging, begging, begging, 'give me, send me, send me,'" Colina said in the video.
The Cuban woman explained that she sends a box with basic and essential products to the island every month, but her relatives continue to demand more without showing any gratitude.
"Many times, they don’t even thank you for that package you sent them," he pointed out.
Colina also listed the financial obligations he faces in the U.S.: car payments, auto insurance, electricity, and rent, warning that failure to meet these obligations has immediate consequences regardless of personal circumstances.
"If I don't pay the rent for my house, the owner won't care if I have two, three, or five children, they'll evict me. Don't compare," she stated.
At the end of the video, Colina delivered a direct message about the causes of the crisis in Cuba and announced his decision to halt the flow of aid: "Cuba has been in this situation for more than sixty years because of a dictatorship, and you Cubans on the island aren't doing anything either. Don't ask me for anything more; I will not send anything over there, with a heavy heart. I'm done."
The case of Colina falls within a sustained viral trend among Cubans abroad who publicly express their exhaustion over the constant demands for remittances and material assistance from relatives on the island.
Throughout 2026, multiple similar cases were reported: in March, a Cuban identified as @maydari6 complained that her relatives only contacted her to ask for money; in May, a Cuban in Florida vented against compatriots who shamelessly asked her for things; in June, a Cuban in Spain revealed having sent 4,000 euros in six months while receiving mistreatment in return; and in July, a Cuban in Arizona demanded that the effort of sending money from abroad be appreciated.
The phrase "they see you as an ATM" has become a recurring descriptor of this dynamic within the Cuban diaspora on social media during 2025 and 2026.
Behind this tension lies the reality of many émigrés working in the platform economy—such as Spark Driver, DoorDash, or Instacart—as independent contractors without labor benefits, bearing all operational costs while financially supporting families on an island entrenched in decades of structural crisis caused by the dictatorship.
Filed under: