The title of this documentary is the first thing that the spectator reads written on a fence at the beginning of the video. The phrase is a clear reference to the protagonist of the piece: Cuba. As in his previous pieces Ortuño builds in La cuna del Daiquiri a documentary style portrait of Cuba’s complex reality. Again, following the trend of his previous work, he interpellates different characters, of various conditions, ages and characteristics. There is no voice-over, we can only hear Ortuño’s questions. The different opinions and responses given intertwine with one another creating a plural and diverse mosaic.

Old women, house wives, artists, former political prisoners, students, and many others speak to the camera, whilst on the background the reality of La Habana relentlessly imposes itself. The video includes those who are in favour of the Cuban political system as well as those who speak against it, it shows both the harsh living conditions that the economic sanctions have effected, and those created for tourists, who live oblivious to the reality of the island and also themselves constitute a limit in the population’s imaginary.

The narrative thread and background of the different stories presented on screen is the theme of escape from the island as the only way out. Building a raft is the only possibility of starting a new life far away from the birthplace of daiquiri.