Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriela Blanco.
Hi Gabriela, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born and raised in Havana, Cuba, where I experienced firsthand the realities of living under a communist regime. Like so many Cuban families, mine was deeply affected by family separation. I spent almost 10 years separated from my father and siblings. They moved to the U.S. first, and I was finally able to join them in 2019. We basically grew up separately.
All of this shaped who I am and gave me a deep appreciation for freedom, God, family, and the opportunities we sometimes take for granted in countries like the United States.
My public speaking journey actually began with my Christian faith. I started sharing my personal testimony through The Gideons International in 2022, talking about what Christianity is like in a place like Cuba and my own personal journey through it.
That journey led me to The Dissident Project in 2024, where I’ve had the opportunity to travel across the United States, speaking to high school students about growing up in Cuba and the realities of socialism in Latin America. Since then, I’ve also had the privilege of sharing my story through many media outlets, trying to educate young Americans about the realities of failed socialist policies in my home country and across Latin America.
Today, I’m a proud American, a wife, a mom of two, and a Christian (not necessarily in that order :)). I’m in the busiest season of my life, but motherhood keeps me grounded and motivated to find the time to put in the work. I don’t want the next generation of Americans to continue being fooled by the current rebranding of the same terrible policies that tore my family apart.
Personal stories can reach people in unique ways and bring people together where political arguments sometimes can’t. And that’s what I hope to continue doing. Our family is currently based in Texas, and there’s plenty of work to still be done here, and across the country.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My journey has been anything but easy. Growing up in a broken family, on food rations, hoping to get lucky enough to leave my home country, knowing you’ll never see many family members again. It’s a terrible yet necessary goal for so many people.
When my husband, who’s Venezuelan, and I got married in 2021, we felt a calling to get involved and start talking to American audiences about the realities in our home countries that we realized were largely unknown here. The goal of starting a family will quickly make you realize that if you don’t want history repeating itself, something must be done. And so we did.
While we are busy, tired parents of two young kids, and I also work to build the family relationships I now get to have here and make up for a lost decade, I’m also called to be an active participant in my local politics and continue advocacy throughout the country, taking the historic failures of socialism to every corner where they haven’t been heard.
My biggest challenge at the moment is time, but we’ll find a way to make it happen.
We’ve been impressed with Independent Public Speaker | Human Rights Advocate | Media Commentator, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I’m an independent public speaker, human rights advocate, and media commentator, specializing in freedom, Cuba, and dismantling the myths around “successful socialism.”
I connect with audiences of all ages, whether in person or online, by using personal stories that are relatable and show the lies behind the façade of socialist “success” and the narrative that these systems would work if the “evil United States” would stop interfering.
I bring these conversations to high schools, universities, conferences, churches, and other events, and I help audiences see freedom from a perspective they may have never considered before, which has made these events so successful so far.
If you have an event you’d like me to attend, reach out! Let’s advance the freedom movement together.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
God and family are everything. There’s a reason communist regimes target them first.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_gabyblanco?psln=MWNxZXR2d3Nja200dQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Twitter: https://x.com/_gabyblanco?s=11&t=x6wQa_-IvNZADj-O_Srepg
- Other: Gabyblanco.media@gmail.com
