The Cuban actress Giselle González posted a video on Facebook in which she reflects with deep emotional intensity on what it means to emigrate, a message that has resonated widely within the Cuban community on social media, garnering over 236,000 views.
Titled "They Have Destroyed My Country!", Giselle's clip is not an explicit political discourse, but rather a poetic and personal meditation on the heartbreak of leaving one's homeland behind.
The actress, known for her role as First Lieutenant Isabel in the police series "Tras la huella," moved to Maryland, United States, in 2024, along with her husband and son.
"To emigrate. It’s a word that is far too small for everything one has to tear away from oneself in order to do it," he says at the beginning.
Throughout the recording, González accurately describes the landscape left behind by those who depart: "To look at the place where you were born and feel that little by little it stops resembling the place you remember. To see how the streets empty, how families are torn apart, and many of us then begin to say goodbye with a suitcase in hand."
The artist points out that those who emigrate are in search of something that should be fundamental: "the ability to choose, to grow, to work for your dreams, to be free." However, she warns that the most important things cannot fit in that suitcase.
"In it, there is no room for your mother, your father, your grandparents, your childhood; there is no space for your profession, your history, the hugs you will no longer be able to give whenever you want," he asserts.
González also describes the change imposed by separation: "To become a daughter from afar, a granddaughter behind a screen, a professional who has to prove once again who she is."
One of the most powerful moments of the video comes when he reflects on the alternative of staying: "It takes a lot of courage to start from scratch, but it's worse to stay in a place where you know the way and there's no more to gain."
“One does not just emigrate from a country; one emigrates from a table, from a house, from a childhood, from the birthdays that start being celebrated without you,” he laments.
The clip concludes with a phrase that summarizes its stance: "Leaving is also an act of courage."
González's departure from Cuba was low-key. In July 2024, he confirmed that he would not be in the new season of Tras la huella, months after starting to publish content from Maryland.
In August of that year, she reunited in Miami with colleagues such as actress Gelliset Valdés and director Delso Aquino, and shortly after she announced her debut at the GALA Hispanic Theatre in Washington D.C. with the play Las 22+ bodas de Hugo.
Other figures from the Cuban artistic world have expressed similar feelings to those of Giselle. The actress Odelmys Torres spoke about the pain of emigrating to Spain in April, and Camila Arteche cried while recalling what her mother and grandmother told her when she made the decision to emigrate.
In January, the actress María Teresa Pina denounced a "human, social, and cultural destruction" in Cuba.
Filed under: