Yordanis García, 32 of Havana, left for Cuba over a year ago after spending several months working in Ecuador to save money for his trip north. His tattoo reads “Si no hay carro nos vamos en balsa,” (If there’s not a car, we’ll raft), a lyric in Spanish that is spoken by Cuban-American rapper Pitbull in the song “Rain Over Me.” “The phrase is a way to protest because to own a car in Cuba is very expensive,” said García. “We don’t migrate only for freedom, but also for economic and political problems. Political for the king that we currently have and economic because in the end they don’t pay us what they owe us.” Cuba’s National Statistics and Information Bureau (ONEI) in 2012 reported that the average monthly wage for Cubans is equivalent to US $20.