A Cuban resident in Curitiba, Brazil, is the star of a video that has gone viral within the Cuban community, as she responds ironically to those who say they are stressed in the South American country and are thinking about returning to the Island.
Wendy Lopez Fumero posted on Facebook a 19-second clip that has garnered over 113,000 views. The message is direct and straightforward: "Sometimes you feel nostalgic and want to go back to Cuba, my love... So come, and I'll refresh your memory so you remember why you left."
In the video, the young woman shows a package containing a piece of meat and a bottle of oil—basic foods that are scarce or only available at very high prices in Cuba; she also displays a pile from which water flows—another vital resource in short supply on the Island—a basket with hygiene items, and some boxes with what appear to be products purchased online.
"Live free," he expressed in the end.
The video immediately connects with a reality that many Cuban émigrés know well: the migratory grief, that nostalgia which sometimes leads to idealizing the Island and considering a return, forgetting the conditions that drove them to leave.
Curitiba, the capital of the state of Paraná, is one of the favorite destinations for Cubans in Brazil. The Facebook group "Cubans in Curitiba" surpassed 45,000 members in August 2025, and 93% of the asylum applications in that city during the first quarter of that year were from Cuban citizens.
Nationwide, Cuban emigration to Brazil reached record numbers: 41,919 asylum applications in 2025, an increase of 88% compared to the previous year. Since the beginning of that year, Cubans surpassed Venezuelans as the main nationality applying for asylum in the country.
Adapting is not easy. Testimonials from emigrants in that country describe the language barrier of Portuguese, jobs below their qualifications, economic stress, and loneliness. A Cuban who has been there for almost four years published two reels in September, in which she dismantled the idealized image that many of her compatriots have.
«People think this is ham because the power doesn't go out and because there is food», and clarified that «here, life is filled with pain».
Other Cubans residing in Brazil are warning about the real difficulties of emigrating to the South American country. In April, two women advised those considering emigrating to Brazil about the personal conditions they should be prepared for.
«If you are used to not working in Cuba, don't come. If you are used to being supported, don't come. And if you are especially used to not fighting for what you want, don't come,» they state in the video.
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