Nick Shirley spent about 24 hours in Cuba, landing in Havana on April 30, 2026, and flying back to the United States on May 1. He says Cuban intelligence agents followed him from the airport until he left, and that he got out after a 4 a.m. run-in with a Cuban general at his hotel and a last round of questions at the airport.
- Dates
- April 30 to May 1, 2026, about 24 hours
- Where
- Havana
- His account
- Cameras seized on arrival, agents tailing him, a general waiting at the hotel around 4 a.m.
- Cuba's answer
- Razones de Cuba says he came on a tourist visa and was “neither pursued, nor detained”
- Videos
- May 4, May 8 (the 30-minute documentary) and May 13
- Now
- Back in the U.S. since May 1, 2026
Why Nick Shirley went to Cuba
Nick Shirley went to Cuba, he wrote on X, “to document the humanitarian crisis and show life under 60+ years of communism and now amid the US blockade.” He told NewsNation he had been “tracking the rise” of socialism and communism at home, then started hearing about the sanctions the Trump administration had put on the island. “I figured this could be my last chance of going there to do something before some kind of intervention,” he said.
The trip came four months after his Minnesota daycare video made him a national name. He flew in with two Spanish-speaking security guards and planned to stay about 60 hours, he said on the PBD Podcast.
What Nick Shirley says happened in Cuba
Nick Shirley says the trouble in Cuba started the moment he landed. “Once I landed, they seized all my cameras except my iPhone and had intelligence agents following me all day,” he wrote on X. On the PBD Podcast he listed GoPro cameras, a stabilizer and Meta glasses, and said he kept his iPhone and a small microphone hidden in his backpack.
He traveled without a government guide, and he believes that made him a target: “Me going without a planned Cuban government guide nearly got me and my security taken hostage or imprisoned.” In a clip he recorded in his Havana hotel room on April 30 and posted May 4, he said he was “potentially about to be kidnapped,” said three “Cuban spies” were near the hotel and called the U.S. Embassy, about a mile and a half away, “our possible way out of this situation.”
The hotel was its own problem. In that clip he called it the only hotel in Havana with power around the clock, and he later told NewsNation a member of his team booked it through the only website they could find, without knowing it was run by the Cuban government. NewsNation noted that U.S. citizens are generally barred from that kind of lodging under federal rules; the State Department keeps a Cuba Prohibited Accommodations List.
When we tried sneaking out of the hotel at about 4 a.m., there was a two-star general waiting for us and interrogated us about why we were leaving early.
Nick Shirley, interview with NewsNation, May 10, 2026
“Only two things could have happened: He could have let us leave or he could have kept us there in Cuba,” he said. The general, he says, told the group to wait for a taxi he had arranged. When none came, they set off on foot, rode a tricycle to the airport, answered more questions there and boarded a flight back to the United States.
Nick Shirley’s Cuba videos and documentary
Nick Shirley released three Cuba videos in May 2026. “I Was Almost Taken Hostage in Cuba…” (May 4, 13 minutes) tells the surveillance story. The Nick Shirley Cuba documentary, “Inside the Fall of Communist Cuba,” followed on May 8: 30 minutes of street interviews with Cubans about daily life. He posted it on X as “Inside Communist-Controlled Cuba,” where it drew 1.3 million views in its first days, and on YouTube it had nearly 1.38 million views by October 29, 2026. “My Escape From Cuba” (May 13) went up on Nick Shirley Interviews, one of his official channels.
Play “Inside the Fall of Communist Cuba” (loads YouTube)
Inside the Fall of Communist Cuba · Nick Shirley · May 8, 2026
Nick Shirley’s Cuba interviews
Nick Shirley retold the Cuba trip on the PBD Podcast on May 7 (“Planning My Escape From Cuba”) and twice on NewsNation, first on NewsNation Live on May 10 and then on “Katie Pavlich Tonight” on May 13. On Pavlich’s show he took aim at young Americans who like the idea of communism: “There is no actual equality in communism. It’s just pure control.”
How Cuba responded to Nick Shirley
Cuba’s answer to Nick Shirley came through Razones de Cuba, a pro-government website that the independent outlet CiberCuba calls a propaganda platform “directly linked to the Cuban State Security.” On May 4 it ran “Nick Shirley, the Trumpist influencer who lied about his visa to invent a kidnapping in Cuba.” Citing unnamed Cuban authorities, it said he entered on April 30 on a tourist visa rather than a journalist visa, filmed without authorization, was called in for what it described as a routine immigration interview and chose to leave early on May 1.
“He was neither pursued, nor detained, nor ‘kidnapped,’” the site said. “He bought his own ticket and left.” Shirley has said his visa covered journalism; Razones de Cuba calls that claim “a deliberate lie.” Neither version has been independently confirmed: the danger rests on Shirley’s word, and the denial comes from a site aligned with the government he was filming.
Conditions in Cuba in 2026
Nick Shirley’s Cuba trip came in the middle of the island’s worst rolling blackouts in decades. After the United States seized Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January 2026, Trump cut off Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and signed an executive order threatening tariffs on any country that sends it fuel.
Two weeks after Shirley flew out, Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said Cuba had run out of diesel and fuel oil, The Guardian reported, and Havana residents banged pots in the streets over blackouts that can last 22 hours or more. A week earlier the UN had called the fuel blockade unlawful, and Cuba’s government blames it for the crisis; Shirley’s videos put the weight on six decades of communism. Press freedom is thin either way: Reporters Without Borders ranks Cuba 160th of 180 countries in its 2026 index and says journalism outside the official press is “de facto clandestine.”
Nick Shirley Cuba FAQ
Did Nick Shirley make it out of Cuba?
Yes, Nick Shirley made it out of Cuba on May 1, 2026, about 24 hours after landing in Havana, on a flight back to the United States.
Is Nick Shirley still in Cuba?
No, Nick Shirley has not been in Cuba since May 1, 2026, and has since posted videos from London, Paris and Brazil, as the Nick Shirley timeline shows. Early coverage, including a May 5 Hindustan Times headline saying he “claims he is stranded in Cuba,” followed his May 4 post, which included the clip he had recorded in his Havana hotel on April 30.
Was Nick Shirley taken hostage in Cuba?
No, Nick Shirley was not taken hostage in Cuba; his claim is that he came close. He says a general questioned his group as they tried to leave, while Razones de Cuba says he was never pursued or detained.
What is the Nick Shirley Cuba documentary called?
The Nick Shirley Cuba documentary is “Inside the Fall of Communist Cuba,” a 30-minute film posted to YouTube on May 8, 2026.
Sources
- YouTube, Nick Shirley: I Was Almost Taken Hostage in Cuba…, May 4, 2026
- YouTube, Nick Shirley: Inside the Fall of Communist Cuba, May 8, 2026
- YouTube, Nick Shirley Interviews: My Escape From Cuba, May 13, 2026
- YouTube, PBD Podcast: “Planning My Escape From Cuba,” Nick Shirley Returns, PBD #793, May 7, 2026
- Razones de Cuba: Nick Shirley, the Trumpist influencer who lied about his visa to invent a kidnapping in Cuba, May 4, 2026
- U.S. Department of State: Cuba Prohibited Accommodations List, checked October 29, 2026
- Reporters Without Borders: Cuba, 2026 World Press Freedom Index, checked October 29, 2026
- NewsNation: Nick Shirley describes almost being held hostage in Cuba: ‘Dangerous situation’, May 10, 2026
- The National News Desk: Nick Shirley says he was almost taken hostage in Cuba, May 5, 2026
- The National News Desk: Nick Shirley teases documentary about Cuba after claims he was almost taken hostage, May 7, 2026
- The National News Desk via KRCR: Nick Shirley releases documentary on ‘Communist-Controlled Cuba’, May 11, 2026
- CiberCuba: American YouTuber Nick Shirley reveals details of his experience in Cuba: Surveillance, escape, and an unprecedented crisis, May 7, 2026
- CiberCuba: State Security comes forward to refute American YouTuber who reported harassment and surveillance in Cuba, May 5, 2026
- Voz: “Estoy potencialmente a punto de ser secuestrado aquí en Cuba”: la angustiante denuncia de Nick Shirley, May 4, 2026
- Hindustan Times: ‘Almost taken hostage’: Nick Shirley claims he is stranded in Cuba, planning ‘escape’ route, May 5, 2026
- The Guardian: Cuba has run out of diesel and fuel oil, energy minister says, as US blockade pushes island to brink, May 14, 2026
Last updated October 29, 2026