A 92-year-old Cuban has become the focus of an emotional testimony circulating on social media, in which she joyfully and in wonder describes how she spends her final years in Spain with her family, far from the island she left behind.
The video was published last Friday by the TikTok user @miguelina9958 under the hashtags #cubanosenespaña and #cubanosporelmundo. In just 29 seconds, the elderly woman speaks to the camera with a naturalness that quickly connected with the Cuban community abroad.
"Who would have told me that at 92 years old I would be here in Spain sharing time with my grandchildren, with a great-granddaughter? There is so much more development, and it all makes me very happy. I share time with my daughter, who has me here; I share time with my son-in-law, with all the friends I have here, and honestly, I am very happy," says the woman in the clip.
Her story represents one of the less visible aspects of the Cuban diaspora: that of the elderly who, in their final years, manage to reunite with their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren abroad, instead of waiting alone in Cuba as time passes.
The contrast with other frequent testimonies in the Cuban emigration is striking. Many Cubans abroad bear the burden of having left their parents or grandparents on the island, unable to accompany them or say goodbye. The story of a grandmother who never saw her grandson again after boarding the plane is just one of the many accounts circulating on social media about this irreversible separation.
Spanish regulations provide for the reunification of ascendants under specific conditions and requirements. In the general system for resident foreigners, first-degree ascendants over the age of 65 can be reunited if they are dependent on the person applying for reunification and if there are valid reasons that justify the need to authorize their residence in Spain.
Spain has established itself as one of the main destinations for Cuban emigration. At the beginning of this year, more than 287,000 Cubans were registered in the country, and during 2025, at least 35,200 people arrived from the island.
The so-called "grandchildren's law" — the Law of Democratic Memory — has been another significant driver of this presence: Cuba is the second country with the most applications for Spanish nationality through this route, only behind Argentina. The saturation caused by more than 100,000 files led Spain to open a new Visa Application Center in Playa, in the Miramar neighborhood of Havana, which will begin operating on October 5 for Schengen visas.
In the broader context, the Cuban exodus shows no signs of slowing down. According to the National Office of Statistics and Information of Cuba, 251,221 people left the island in just 2024, and between 2021 and that year, approximately 1.79 million Cubans are estimated to have emigrated.
In the face of that picture of separations and distances, the testimony of this 92-year-old woman concludes with a phrase that sums up what many emigrated Cubans would wish for their own elders: "Honestly, I am very happy."
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