A Cuban living in the United States responded to a friend's reproach, who accused him of having "taken the Coca-Cola of oblivion": he reminded him that he spent 12 years in prison in Cuba while that same friend never brought cigarettes for his mother nor contributed 50 pesos for a package.
Keiber Boloy (@keiber.boloy) posted the video on TikTok at the end of July, and his response quickly circulated among the Cuban community abroad. In the clip, which lasts just over a minute, the man confronts his interlocutor directly and asks where he was when he was needed the most.
"Look over here, kid, I'm going to remind you: when I was in Cuba, I spent twelve years in prison. Unfortunately, you never gave cigarettes to my mom to bring me in prison, you never gave fifty pesos for her to bring me a bag," Boloy says in the video.
The expression "tomarse la Coca-Cola del olvido" is a popular Cuban saying used to criticize, with irony or bitterness, emigrants who supposedly stop remembering or helping their family and friends on the island once they settle abroad.
But Boloy doesn't just respond with his prison story. He also describes the daily hardships of living in the United States: he works in construction and sends money to Cuba to support his family. "You can’t imagine the work we have to endure here, helping the family, sending fifty pesos over there to Cuba," he notes.
He also issues a direct challenge to his critic: "If you want fifty pesos, jump into the water onto a boat and come here to work in construction so you can have a Coca-Cola too, let's see if you actually do."
Regarding the original reproach, his conclusion is straightforward: "If I had the Coca-Cola now, it must taste good."
Boloy's testimony adds to a debate that has been provoking reactions on TikTok for over a year. In July 2025, Cuban Maylay Carmona went viral with a phrase that encapsulated the feelings of many emigrants: "It's not that they forgot, it's that life really gets tough on you." That same month, a Cuban living in Brazil published her own reflection on the topic, which sparked reactions from emigrants in Chile, Uruguay, Spain, and the United States.
In May 2026, another Cuban responded with equal strength to those who leveled the same reproach. And in June, a Cuban known as "Bad Boy" repeated the phrase in response to those who were asking for top-ups from the island, accumulating over 60,300 views.
In Boloy's case, the Cuban doesn't just talk about high bills or exhausting days; he also shares about the years he spent in prison in Cuba and the lack of support he claims to have received from that friend during that period. His video garnered 13,200 views, 601 likes, and 119 comments.
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