A clip posted on TikTok by the user Proteston 2.0 has become one of the most shared videos in the Cuban community on social media, showcasing, with humor and island slang, how he identifies his fellow countrymen at an airport before boarding a flight to Cuba.
The video, lasting one minute and 25 seconds, was published at the end of June and garnered over 122,000 views, nearly 3,300 likes, and around 2,900 shares, figures that position it as high-impact content within the Cuban diaspora on that platform.
In the clip, the author films the passengers in the boarding area and describes them in a mocking tone: he points out the oversized Invicta watches—known in Cuban slang as "el invista" or "el relojón"—as the most telling accessory, alongside flashy "little clothes" and a "little purse."
"Where is the stain going and where does it come from, look at the big stain, where is it going and where is it from? Look at the big clock," says the author while focusing on one of the travelers.
At another point in the video, upon identifying a passenger bound for Camagüey, he exclaims: "The invista knows where it's headed, Camagüey, Palestinian."
The term "palestino" is a slang expression from Cuba that has been in use for decades and refers, in a pejorative sense, to people from the eastern part of Cuba. The Diccionario del Español de Cuba (2000) formally recorded it as "a resident of the interior, especially from the eastern region of Cuba, who comes to live in Havana."
The clip closes with a statement that sums up the tone of the entire video: "they are all easy to recognize."
The Invicta watch, an American brand known for its affordable pricing and bulky design, has become a recognizable status symbol among Cubans in the diaspora, particularly among those who travel to the island, where it serves as a visible sign of prosperity abroad.
This type of content falls within a well-established trend on TikTok where Cubans in the diaspora make light of themselves with identity humor. In September 2025, a group of Cubans set up a rueda de casino right in the arrivals hall of an airport, and the video went viral immediately.
In February 2025, passengers heading to Cuba turned a delay into a casino wheel at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, and in November 2024, another clip showed Cubans wrapping their luggage in plastic at an airport, generating thousands of reactions.
Behind the humor lies a concrete reality: the chronic shortage of basic goods in Cuba forces those traveling to the island to pack their bags to the brim with clothing, food, medicine, and hygiene products, creating a recognizable appearance that the Cuban community has transformed into comedic material.
In January of this year, a Cuban humorously mocked the "show" that some compatriots put on when preparing for a trip, mentioning everything from "buying Versace luggage" to renting a car for the occasion.
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