A Cuban resident in Florida touched thousands of followers by recalling in a moving video on Instagram the love story that ties her to her American husband.
“For the gringo who proposed to me as close to Cuba as possible, he married me without caring that I was an immigrant, rescued my daughter in Cuba, and gave me a baby,” wrote the user @cubahilda187 in the description of the video that garnered thousands of likes and dozens of comments under the popular hashtag #gringoylatina.
The chosen setting for the proposal was not by chance: the famous 90 miles to Cuba buoy, the concrete monument located at the corner of South Street and Whitehead Street in Key West, Florida, which symbolically marks the southernmost point of the continental United States.
For the Cuban community in exile, that corner of the Florida Keys holds emotional significance that goes far beyond tourism. The buoy bears the inscription "90 Miles to Cuba" and is one of the most photographed spots in the entire region, visited each year by thousands of tourists from around the world.
Many Cubans living outside the island see this monument as a geographical connection to their homeland, a point from which Cuba seems almost within reach.
The gesture of Hilda's husband —taking her precisely there to propose— condensed in one place the story of separation, migration, and family reconstruction shared by so many Cubans in exile.
The man also traveled to Cuba to reunite Hilda with her teenage daughter, whom she had not seen since she was nine years old. This reunification, along with the wedding and the birth of their little son, turns the story of this Cuban woman into a tale that has captured many hearts.
The phenomenon of couples formed by Cubans and Americans is a recurring topic on social media, featuring stories that blend love, migration, and cultural adaptation, which resonate immediately with those who have experienced similar journeys.
Filed under: