He fled the ‘Hunger Games’ of Cuba only to watch free Americans cheer communism
Cuban influencers Yoel and Mari Díaz erupted in celebration after news broke of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro’s capture. Known for their unapologetic critiques of communism, the Arizona-based couple has built a large social media following by contrasting life under leftist regimes with the freedoms they say come with capitalism in the United States.
The couple spoke with Fox News Digital about the news of the capture and why this gives hope to Cubans.
"The capture of Nicolás Maduro is something that we're really happy about. Many people around the world are happy about, like you said, not just Venezuelans, Cubans, [Nicaraguans], people who have lived under a dictatorship because they've never lived under one. So all I have to say is yes, he was captured. Yes, it was by the United States, but he was there because of other countries too," Mari said.
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Mari said, "Nicolás Maduro is a product of imperialism, Cuban imperialism."
Yoel said Maduro is the "same" as former Cuban leader Fidel Castro and former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, both hard-left authoritarians.
"It is the same like Castro. Chávez and Maduro are the same," Yoel said.
Yoel shared that the moment of discovering the capture of Maduro was emotional, and wants that for the people in Cuba as well.
"We hear people say, hey, finally, Venezuela is free. And in that moment my friend here, he said, can you imagine if we have that for the Cuban people?" Yoel said. Mari shared the video of Yoel's reaction, and it received over 10 million views on Instagram.
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"Literally Cuba is The Hunger Games," said Yoel.
Mari shared Yoel's sentiment, "I'm very excited for the future of possibility of a liberation of Cuba."
Yoel shared that Cubans and Venezuelans are very similar with only a bit of a difference when it comes to culture.
Mari said the impact of socialism in Venezuela is very telling, "All you have to do is see the makeshift boats coming from Cuba to Miami every single year as we speak today. And the millions and millions of Venezuelans who had to jump all the way to Venezuela, to the United States, and cross that border. And that will tell you everything you need to know about socialism."
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Mari suggested that those protesting the removal of Maduro do not understand the full context.
"They don't know that Maduro was and is a[n] [il]legitimate president. They don't understand that Venezuela conducts elections every year and Nicolás Maduro forced himself to be president yet again."
Mari added that there were a lot of gaps and complexities that those protesting this in the United States do not understand.
"Maduro lives in a democratic socialist government. He's the head of a democratic socialists government. Has done atrocities to the Venezuelan people. And condemning it to me is lacking a lot of knowledge and prior complexities," Mari said.
Mari shared a message to those supporting communist ideals.
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"They are communists because they have read about communism. We are anti-communist because we have lived in communism," Mari said.
They have over 232,000 followers on their Instagram account @mimaincuba, and almost 500,000 followers on their TikTok @yoelandmari. They also share videos on YouTube page @YoelAndMari with 180,000 subscribers.
Maduro made his first court appearance Monday in New York, days after he and his wife were arrested.
Both have been charged by the Justice Department with narco-terrorism and other offenses.
"I am innocent. I am not guilty of anything that is written here," Maduro said in court as the charges against him were read.