Cuba's collapse in the age of influencers: Staying here should be a source of pride, not a sacrifice'

"She explained that she was facing bureaucratic hurdles in obtaining her degree to qualify as a senior technician in dental prosthetics. And, even with the diploma, it would be difficult to survive on a monthly salary of 3,000 pesos (about $6). In Cuba, she said, you have to be a magician to survive the nonexistent transportation, the inflation, the corruption, [or] the fact that the country is operating with a currency that not everyone can access."

"They learned to record themselves during blackouts, to edit in the silent early morning hours, and to have the patience to upload a 40-second, 60-megabyte video to the internet over the course of three or four hours. They could talk about music, but they don't. They could record themselves on the Malecon, driving in a 1950s American Chevrolet but they don't want to. Instead, they create political content."

A generation of young Cubans born after the Revolution has turned to social media, particularly YouTube and Facebook, to become activists and dissidents. These individuals, in their early twenties, abandoned traditional career paths and entertainment content creation to produce political commentary addressing Cuba's severe economic crisis. They navigate extreme infrastructure challenges—recording during blackouts, editing at dawn, and uploading videos over hours due to poor connectivity. Content creators like Anna Bensi shifted from entertainment to serious political discourse, highlighting systemic issues including inadequate salaries, food shortages, transportation failures, inflation, corruption, and limited currency access. Their videos gain significant engagement, marking a new form of dissent within Cuba during its worst economic period in decades.

Read at english.elpais.com