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The Cuban-Spanish Rocío Monasterio publicly criticized the Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla following his statement on the social media platform X regarding the situation in Venezuela.
In a direct and forceful message, Monasterio accused the Cuban regime of systematically violating human rights and questioned how the government of Havana can speak on that issue while keeping its own people immersed in misery and repression.
"Thousands of Cubans today are dying of hunger, disease, or rotting in a prison simply for singing 'Homeland and Life,' and Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla has the audacity to talk to us about the violation of rights," wrote Monasterio.
"The human rights of Cubans are those that you, the castrists, have violated for 65 years of dictatorship. Go find a communist country that will grant you asylum..." he added.
Monasterio's message was in response to a tweet from the Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, in which he rejected the announcement of aU.S. government regarding a naval blockade against Venezuela.
Rodríguez Parrilla described the measure as a "serious violation of International Law" and denounced what he characterized as an escalation of aggression against the government of Nicolás Maduro.
He also expressed Cuba's "total and firm support" for Nicolás Maduro and his government.
Monasterio's reaction comes amidst a new escalation of regional tensions following President Donald Trump's announcement of a total oil blockade against Venezuela.
Trump accused the government of Nicolás Maduro of using energy resources to finance criminal activities such as drug trafficking and human trafficking, and labeled the Venezuelan regime as illegitimate, even going so far as to designate it as a foreign terrorist organization.
The announcement also included a tightening of immigration policy and an increase in the deportations of Venezuelan citizens.
In response, the leader Miguel Díaz-Canel publicly expressed his support for Maduro and rejected the measure announced by Washington, aligning himself with the rhetoric of the Venezuelan government, which announced that it will appeal to the United Nations.
The controversy arises at a particularly sensitive time for the Cuban government.
Days earlier, Havana had acknowledged that the oil transported by a ship seized by the United States in the Caribbean was destined for Cuba.
Rodríguez Parrilla himself described that operation as an "act of piracy and maritime terrorism," while acknowledging the Island's energy dependence on those supplies.
Rocío Monasterio, of Cuban origin, is known for her outspoken stance against the regime in Havana.
For years, she was a prominent figure in the Spanish party Vox - of which she became the leader in the Community of Madrid - but in October 2024, she announced her definitive departure from politics after being removed from her position. Since then, she has focused on her work as an architect and entrepreneur, while continuing her public activism against the Cuban regime.
Throughout his political career, Monasterio repeatedly demanded that Spain and the European Union officially recognize Cuba as a dictatorship and called for the release of political prisoners.
In 2022, she challenged the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, to declare that there are no political freedoms or free elections in Cuba.
In 2023, she was named "Ambassador of the Cuban Exile in Spain" along with the MEP Hermann Tertsch, at an event held in Miami.
Your message against Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla adds to a long series of statements in which you have denounced the human rights situation in Cuba and criticized the Cuban government's support for allied regimes such as that of Venezuela.
This time, her phrase "go find a communist country that gives you asylum" has once again placed her in the political debate on social media, where her words sparked numerous supportive reactions, in an environment characterized by the growing international rejection of the dictatorships in Cuba and Venezuela.
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