Sandro Castro, grandson of the late dictator Fidel Castro, posted an image on his Instagram account that reignited the controversy in Cuba.
In the photograph, the entertainment businessman is seen holding a Cristal beer and staring intently at it, accompanying the scene with a direct and mocking message: "When I'm with you, I forget that Díaz-Canel is president."
This is the most direct allusion she has made so far against the Cuban leader, turning him into the explicit target of her irony.
The comment takes on special significance as it occurs at a time of great fragility for the regime.
Following Nicolás Maduro's downfall in Venezuela and with U.S. President Donald Trump's attention focused on Havana, the dictatorship is facing the most delicate political context in its history.
In that scenario, Sandro's mockery has been interpreted by many as something more than a light provocation: the positioning of someone close to power who wants to showcase distance when the system is collapsing.
As the sailor's proverb goes: "When the ship sinks, the rats are the first to leave."
Díaz-Canel, a constant target of the grandson of Fidel's ironies
This is not the first time Sandro Castro has mocked Díaz-Canel.
En diciembre pasado ya había generado controversia al responder en Instagram a un seguidor con la frase "I prefer to have Cristachhh, not lemonade.", una referencia irónica a la célebre declaración de Díaz-Canel de 2020 que "la limonada es la base de todo".
That publication reignited the debate about the privileges of the powerful's relatives, who are able to openly mock the president without facing any consequences.
In October, Fidel's grandson released a video in which he parodied the everyday misery experienced by Cubans.
In the recording, he was seen digging a symbolic hole while finding basic food items—chicken, oil, powdered milk, and lemons—alongside a sex toy, mocking the scarcity, inflation, and blackouts.
In one of the most talked-about moments, upon finding lemons he declared: "I knew that the basis of everything cannot be missing: some little lemons to make a fresh lemonade", a clear allusion to the Cuban leader.
Throughout his publications, Sandro Castro has shown that he enjoys the impunity granted by his surname.
While independent journalists and human rights activists are fined, detained, or imprisoned for criticizing the reality in Cuba, Fidel's grandson publicly mocks the ruler without visible consequences, reinforcing the perception of a double standard on the island.
In July, he threw another jab in a video where, holding a Cristal beer, he said: "What does one blackout say to the other blackout? We are continuity!", referring to the official slogan promoted by Díaz-Canel.
The publication circulated while much of the country was experiencing prolonged power outages, becoming another subtle critique of the regime's narrative.
In June, Sandro liked a comment that ridiculed the ruler directly, a gesture that many followers interpreted as a sign of disapproval towards Díaz-Canel or as sympathy for the critiques aimed at the leader.
The combination of these actions paints an uncomfortable picture for both the ruler and Sandro Castro himself.
On one hand, it highlights the loss of symbolic authority of Díaz-Canel even among the heirs of Castroism; on the other hand, it exposes the cynicism of an elite that allows itself to joke about the country's collapse while millions of Cubans face blackouts, shortages, and repression.
The image of Fidel's grandson toasting with a Cristal while forgetting that Díaz-Canel is in power not only ridicules him; it also reveals the disconnect of the ruling elite with the everyday tragedy of the country, at a time when the regime is wobbling like never before.
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