A Cuban content creator went viral after posting a reel on Instagram in which he builds romantic anticipation over several minutes for the arrival of "his great love" from Canada, only to reveal at the end that the object of his longing is a bottle of cooking oil.
The video from user @angel_denis_vlogs garnered 46,000 likes and nearly 2,000 comments, driven by a narrative twist that struck a very sensitive chord among Cubans: the shortage of cooking oil, which became one of the hardest products to acquire on the island in 2026.
"Today my great love arrives at my house, he is coming from Canada. I won’t deny that the distance and the waiting have been very difficult," says the creator at the beginning of the clip, in a tone that any viewer would interpret as a story of long-distance love.
Throughout the video, she describes her preparation routine: cleaning the house, washing the dishes, trimming her grandmother's nails, and peeling plantains to make tostones, all while waiting for the delivery of her great love (the shipment).
"The truth is that I have missed him at all times, especially in the kitchen, as that is where we complement each other the most," she adds, without revealing what it is about yet.
"The wait is really tough because it's a whirlwind of emotions, a nervousness that is the greatest thing in life," he confesses just before the vehicle finally honks at the door.
When the bottle of oil reaches his hands, the creator ends the video by kissing the bottle and with a phrase that precisely summarizes the resigned humor of many Cubans in the face of the crisis: "Only Cubans will understand this feeling right now."
And the truth is that receiving oil from abroad is not a comedic exaggeration; it is a daily reality for thousands of families on the island. Following Resolution 150/2026 from the Ministry of Finance and Prices, published on June 20, 2026, which lifted price caps, the product skyrocketed in cost. From about 1,500 pesos in April, the price of oil reached 2,500 pesos in Havana in July and climbed between 4,000 and 7,000 pesos per liter in August, depending on the province and vendor.
The video by @angel_denis_vlogs is part of a wave of dark humor that has flooded Cuban social media regarding the shortage of oil. A 24-year-old Cuban stored his bottle in a safe with the message "Fight for your dreams"; a mother went viral posing with hers under the phrase "I have gold in my hands"; and another Cuban even declared an "oil strike" in response to skyrocketing prices.
What should be an everyday ingredient has become, under the structural crisis of the regime, an object of desire, celebration, and now also a source of great loves coming from Canada.
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