The grandson of the dictator Fidel Castro, the “young revolutionary” Sandro Castro, has once again sparked social media after liking a post on Instagram where his own grandfather is portrayed as a “slacker” and “freeloader”.
The video was shared by the Cuban influencer @elieser_elbayardo, who reviewed excerpts from an interview given by Juanita Castro, sister of the late dictator, in which she revealed that Fidel "never worked a day in his life" and relied financially on his father, Ángel Castro, even after getting married.
In the clip, Juanita herself asserts:
“Fidel studied Law, graduated, and opened a law firm… but that firm lasted very little time. I never knew him to have any work, other than that. He never worked a day in his life. My dad supported him even after he was married, him, his wife, and their children.”
Following those statements, the influencer added a critical comment that quickly went viral among Cubans both on and off the island:
“That woman is Juanita Castro, a revolutionary like her brother, and she knew him better than anyone. Fidel never practiced a profession, never sweated under the sun, nor depended on a salary. He preached sacrifice without knowing it. He spoke of the worker, but was never a worker. He spoke of the peasant, but never wielded a machete. He spoke of the people, but never lived like the people.”
Elieser also compared Fidel to Karl Marx, emphasizing that "all communists are cut from the same cloth," referring to their privileged lifestyle despite advocating for equality, social justice, and sharing their critiques of the wealthy classes of capitalism and its injustices towards the proletariat.
What caught the most attention was not the content of the video—critical of the historic leader of the so-called "Cuban revolution"—but rather the "like" from Sandro Castro, a direct descendant of Fidel himself, who publicly endorsed the post.
The gesture was interpreted by many as an ironic wink or a possible symbolic distancing from the family legacy. Others, however, saw it as a mere provocation or yet another display of Sandro's disdain for the Cuban reality, in contrast to his ostentations of luxury and private parties while the country grapples with shortages, blackouts, and widespread misery.
The episode reinforces the perception that even within the Castro regime's family environment, fissures and contradictions emerge in the discourse and indoctrination that have characterized life in Cuba for more than six decades.
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