A Cuban residing in Miami donated 150,000 pesos in cash to a mother accompanying her sick child in a hospital in Cuba, in a gesture of solidarity that went viral on TikTok last Sunday and touched the hearts of thousands of people.
The video, published by Ernesto Pérez on his account @ernestoperez_80, shows the exact moment when the bills are counted aloud, while the woman breaks down in tears.
"30,000, 40,000, 50,000... we are handing over 150,000 pesos in cash here to the mother," Pérez is heard saying during the delivery, before asking the woman not to cry: "Nothing of this compensates for the health of your son."
The mother, visibly moved, thanked everyone who contributed without mentioning individual names, as she explained that there were too many people who had helped.
"From my heart, I say to you, may God multiply it for you, may He triple it, and may you continue to help more people in need," he expressed.
Upon bidding farewell, he added: "I won't mention anyone because there are too many people, so that no one feels bad. Thank you to everyone who helped. If you helped, feel good in your heart."
This is not the first act of solidarity from Ernesto Pérez towards Cuban families in distress. In April, he donated 15,000 pesos to the mother of a young woman from Guantánamo who was unable to walk, funds that came from his initial earnings in TikTok LIVE battles. This new contribution, ten times greater, reflects the growth of his community and his mobilization capacity.
The video accumulated over 276,000 views and 35,500 likes in just a few hours, becoming one of the most recent examples of a phenomenon growing on social media: Cubans in the diaspora organizing digital fundraising efforts to help alleviate the health crisis on the Island.
In light of the collapse of the public health system in Cuba, solidarity organized through social media has become an informal yet growing support network. In July, a campaign on Facebook raised over 500,000 pesos for a child with cerebral palsy, and another collection exceeded 305,000 pesos in just 36 hours for a teenager with the same condition.
The minister of Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, acknowledged that the Cuban healthcare system was "on the brink of collapse," while the solidarity among Cubans—both on and off the Island—remains, for many families, the only network that has not failed.
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