Anido Cuesta and Hafez Al-Assad: "Daddy's boys" in trouble with the same pair of sneakers

"If I ever lower my head, it will be to admire my shoes," said Marilyn Monroe, an inimitable star and a great authority on matters of 'putting your foot in it' and 'holding your head high.'

Her alter ego in La Colmenita, the Cuban actress Ana de Armas, seems to only bow her head before the regime that—during her time as a little worker bee—instilled in her the belief that the "revolution" was made by and for the humble.

But the interpreter of Blonde not only admires the shine of the dictatorship's boots, but she is also concerned about the delicate feet of her new partner, Manuel Anido Cuesta, stepson and advisor to Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Now that she and the firstborn of the "not first lady," Lis Cuesta Peraza, have been seen getting cozy in Madrid, the public has taken note of how well-dressed and polished the star's suitor is.

Tom Ford sunglasses (€295) and a Moncler jacket (€1,950) have been immortalized on glossy pages. The gossip column by Anido Cuesta and the actress, one of the most scandalous chapters of the regime, has overshadowed Sandro Castro and his "revolutionary speculation."

Traveling around Madrid, with bags from El Corte Inglés filled with Christmas shopping, dining in luxury restaurants, and taking photos alongside the 'little wasp', Lis Cuesta's son is showing off his "toys" while his stepfather, in a misguided attempt to guide him, is ruining the lives of Cubans by calling for "creative resistance."

Cubans are in 'gold rush' mode, devouring a Russian boot; meanwhile, the 'royal family's' stepson is wandering the streets of the capital, with his metatarsals wrapped in the delicate deer leather of his exclusive Zegna sneakers, priced at 966 euros.

Almost a thousand euros worth of footwear, equivalent to nearly 300 minimum wages in Cuba (or 20 years of working-class labor), that’s what Díaz-Canel's stepson is wearing on his feet. This is the 'leader' whose intention is to further deepen the marginalization of the Cuban people.

Accompanied by the reciter of "zapaticos de rosa," Anido Cuesta poses as just another member of the Kennedy clan: firm, self-assured, sheltered by the opulence and personal security afforded to Cubans, both of them embodying the boldest distraction maneuver of island counterintelligence.

But the distractions of this world are fickle, and while Anido and Anita played Captain Onion in Madrid, in Damascus, Syria, an old friend of the tyranny of Havana was starting to feel the pinch of his shoe.

He was pressed so hard that Bashar Al-Assad had to hightail it out and flee with his family to Moscow, where the Kremlin fixer granted them asylum, storing their luggage in a safe and giving the asylum seekers a pair of slippers to make them feel at home.

Among the thousands of images unveiled these days showcasing the lifestyle of the Al-Assads, one photograph stands out: Bashar and his family walking through the streets of Damascus like "ordinary people." Yet, upon examining the claws of this bloodthirsty "royalty," one notices the eldest son, Hafez Al-Assad, wearing the same Zegna sneakers as Anido Cuesta. What a coincidence!

The fall of the Syrian regime, after 53 years of tyrannical rule by the Assads, has come as a cold shower to their allies in Havana. Moreover, seeing Díaz-Canel's stepson wearing the same pair of sneakers as Bashar's son (who shares his name with the grandfather and founder of the Alawite dictatorship) can be interpreted as a bad omen: the advisor to the “most unpopular straw man” among the masses is playing with fire!

It is said that in the wardrobe of Imelda Marcos, the Marie Antoinette of Manila, there were more than 3,000 pairs of shoes from Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Givenchy. After losing power, the wife of dictator Ferdinand—who was responsible for the deaths of 3,200 people, tortured 35,000, and imprisoned 70,000 citizens and political dissidents—remarked that in her closet “they didn’t find skeletons, only beautiful shoes.”

We don't know if Cuesta Peraza will be able to say the same as the former First Lady of the Philippines, not because of the "skeletons," but rather for the "beautiful shoes." It is common knowledge that footwear and fashion are La Machi's unfinished business, a modest cultural official who clumsily clicks her heels through the halls of the Palace.

But while we await the end that the story holds for the loving dictators of "continuity," perhaps Anido Cuesta's girlfriend could advise her sister-in-law on trends, just as he advises his stepfather on matters of... what exactly?

Oh well, it doesn't matter... it will be about family in need.