Rachely Carmenates Sánchez, a Cuban doctor who documented the precariousness of life on the Island for months, announced in a video on Instagram that she has left Cuba for Brazil, describing it as “the most difficult and painful decision” of her life.
"I am leaving Cuba, or rather, I have already left Cuba, because by the time you see this video, I will be in that place I chose as my destination, even though I never would have wanted it to be my home," says the young woman at the beginning of the recording, which she posted on Friday with the Brazilian flag in the description.
Rachely was emphatic that her departure was not a free choice: "I didn't leave Cuba because I wanted to emigrate; I left because my country has taken away too many opportunities and forced me to seek outside what I should be able to build right there."
The doctor outlined three specific reasons that drove her to emigrate while pregnant: “I left so that my baby could be born in a free country, so that my job would allow me to live with dignity, and to give my family a future that wouldn't be possible there.”
The pain of family separation runs through the entire video. "With a broken heart, with the guilt of having had to separate my husband from our daughter, even before she was born," she confessed with a trembling voice.
Addressing the regime directly, Rachely did not hold back: "To the Cuban regime, I want to say that I deeply love Cuba, but I hold your government responsible for forcing me to leave everything I love behind. Because loving my country should not mean giving up my dreams, my freedom, and even less my future."
She also expressed the weight that her daughter's future brings her: "It hurts me that my daughter has to start her story far from the land that saw her mother born. It hurts me that so many families have to separate and that leaving has become the only hope for all Cubans."
The young woman uses an image that encapsulates the paradox of those who emigrate against their will: "My suitcase was incredibly heavy, not because of what it contained, but because of what it left behind."
Rachely closed her message with a promise that blends hope and nostalgia: "I will return, and I hope to find a Cuba where no one has to leave their home to live with dignity, where families do not have to separate, and where our children can dream without limits. Because I never wanted to leave. Like so many other Cubans, I was forced to say goodbye to my home."
The young woman, who scored 100 points on her state medical exam and worked as a pediatric intensive care resident in Havana, revealed in October that she was no longer practicing the profession because her salary was not enough to live on. Months earlier, she showed her salary: 10,250 Cuban pesos (about 19 dollars at that time), with which she bought basic food items without any money left for transportation, hygiene, or internet.
Its story is set against the backdrop of a massive exodus of Cuban doctors that has depleted the healthcare system on the Island: according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics and Information (ONEI), Cuba went from 106,131 doctors in 2021 to 75,364 in 2024, a loss of more than 30,000 professionals in just three years.
Low salaries, poor working conditions, and a lack of resources to care for patients have led to a drain of professionals to other sectors or abroad.
Brazil has become an important destination for Cuban emigration. In 2025, it received almost 42,000 asylum applications from Cubans, and between January and April 2026, another 13,414 Cubans sought protection in that country, according to data from the Brazilian government.
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