The Cuban Yamileisis Fleitas Cruz arrived in Brazil with her daughter Angélica - a teenager with special needs who moves in a wheelchair - her six-year-old son Rolandito, and her husband, thus completing a journey that she herself described as a long road filled with uncertainties but also with hope.
“we left Cuba like so many do: with a backpack full of uncertainties and fears, but also filled with hope and an immense desire to continue fighting for a better future for Angélica,” wrote Yamileisis on Facebook.
The family, originally from Artemisa, has settled in Boa Vista, the capital of the state of Roraima. Just two days after stepping onto Brazilian soil, they had already completed the process with the Federal Police and had the necessary documents to start their new life.
It was precisely as they were leaving that meeting when the youngest in the family uttered the words that his mother would never forget: "Mom, you were so right, my sister has so many opportunities here."
Yamileisis acknowledged that the journey required "a lot of courage, patience, and strength" due to Angélica's condition, but emphasized that her youngest son's phrase sums up everything the family feels at this moment.
"We continue moving forward, with faith, hope, and the certainty that dreams, when fought for with love, always find a way," he concluded.
The case of this family reflects a pattern that is repeated among Cubans who emigrate with children requiring specialized care.
In July, mother Arianelis Ramírez sought help to take her daughter Sara, who suffers from cerebral palsy worsened by daily power outages lasting over 20 hours.
At the end of August, Dalma Rosell Marrero was seeking funds to take her seven-year-old son, who has a rare chromosomal alteration, to Argentina, in search of specialized care.
Brazil has become the main destination for the Cuban exodus. Between January and April of this year, 13,414 Cuban immigrants submitted asylum applications in the South American country, according to data from the International Migration Observatory (OBMigra).
The figure represents 58% of all asylum applications (22,938) registered in Brazil during that period, a number that solidifies Cubans as the leading nationality seeking asylum in that destination.
The pace of the first semester indicates an annual figure that could exceed 40,000 applications for the second consecutive year, reflecting a sustained acceleration trend that triggered Cuban emigration to Brazil in 2025.
That year, the asylum requests from Cubans reached a historic record, exceeding 41,900, a rise of 88% compared to the approximately 22,300 recorded in 2024, according to data from the Flow Monitoring Matrix (DTM) of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
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