The Cuban influencer La Cintumbare —whose real name is Cinthya Medrano García— set social media ablaze with a video posted on her Instagram account in which she claims that she prefers food from Cuba over that of the United States, describing the latter as "plastic" and lacking any nutritional value.
The clip emerged in response to followers who commented that she had lost a lot of weight. Instead of worrying, she celebrated it and attributed it to a personal decision to get in shape.
"I am slim because I wanted to be a fit girl. I wanted to be fit. That's why I decided to lose weight," she stated in the video.
Regarding food in the United States, she was emphatic: "I came back extremely overweight from the United States with all that plastic food they sell over there. The food is terrible. That food in the United States is plastic. It's useless. All it does is make people gain weight and make them fat."
And he added, "I prefer to eat the food here in Cuba. No matter how bad it is, it's better than the food over in the United States."
The reaction from her audience, however, was mostly skeptical and filled with concern. Hundreds of comments point in a very different direction from the fitness narrative she presents.
Several followers claim to have identified in the audio of the video sounds typical of a can used for smoking crack, known in Cuban slang as "piedra." "I know you won't pay attention, but you are consuming piedra. The sound heard in the first three seconds is from the can. Turn it down, get out of there," one of them wrote.
Others were even more direct: "Sir, the stone doesn't whet the appetite" and "He says fitness. That's the hunger he's experiencing."
Among the longest messages, one stood out that reminded her of her responsibilities as a mother: "You are a mother. You have a child who needs you to be present, healthy, and strong. [...] If you are truly using crack or struggling with an addiction, please seek professional help."
Another follower linked his current state to the emotional blow of his forced return to the island: "In my opinion, being deported affected him a lot. It's also hard to face that shock of going from having a car, money, and good food to having nothing."
References to her weight loss gained strength after the Cuban singer Ja Rulay warned her about the effects of drug use. La Cintumbare had published a video in which she responded to those who criticized her for using crack.
La Cintumbare was deported to Cuba in February 2025 by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after failing to appear at a migration hearing in October 2023, which resulted in a deportation order in absentia. She arrived on the island on a repatriation flight and since her return, she has maintained her controversial presence on social media.
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