The Cuban actress and influencer María Karla Rivero Veloz, known as Maka, responded to Sandro Castro, the grandson of Fidel Castro, following his statements made in an interview with CNN where he claimed that his grandfather had principles and respected other people.
Maka's response is filled with personal history: her father, the poet and dissident journalist Raúl Rivero, was one of the 75 opponents detained on March 18, 2003 during the Black Spring, the largest crackdown on peaceful opposition ordered by Fidel Castro, and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison in summary trials.
"Was it respect to imprison people for thinking differently? Was it respect to condemn my father and so many others for dissenting? No. That was not respect. That was repression," declared Maka in the video posted on her channel "La casa de Maka" on Facebook.
The actress also pointed to what she deemed the most serious aspect of the matter: "The most serious part is not just what he says, but the calmness with which he says it. As if history didn’t exist. As if there were no names, sentences, and broken families behind those words."
Maka also dismantled the claim by Sandro to be just another Cuban and to not have any privileges because of his surname.
Regarding Sandro's mention of his "almost empty" refrigerator, Maka was firm: "The Cuban does not have an almost empty refrigerator. He has it empty. If he even has a refrigerator."
Sandro's interview with CNN was recorded at night in his apartment in the Havana neighborhood of Kohly, during a power outage, but with his own generator, a double-door refrigerator running, and air conditioning working, details that contradicted his narrative.
Maka also pointed out the stark difference between Sandro's situation and that of the average Cuban: "You criticize the appointed position publicly and nothing happens. Today in Cuba, there are young people imprisoned for saying exactly what you said. For asking for freedom, for asking for food, for asking for electricity. They are not interviewed; they are incarcerated."
And she concluded directly: "You are not just another Cuban. You are indeed protected. And that is the difference you try to downplay, but it has become clearer than ever. Because it was not a Cuban who spoke. It was privilege attempting to disguise itself as the people."
Maka was not the only one to respond. Idalmis Menéndez, Fidel Castro's former daughter-in-law who lived for four years in the dictator's official residence, also publicly confronted Sandro this Thursday: "Yes, you have privileges, Sandro, because you were born in the heart of power."
Maka's father, Raúl Rivero Castañeda, served time in the Canaleta prison in Ciego de Ávila, where she could only visit him for two hours every three months.
He was released from prison in November 2004 due to international pressure, received the UNESCO-Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize the same year, and went into exile in Spain and then in Miami, where he passed away on November 6, 2021, at the age of 75.
In an interview with CubaNet in February 2024, Maka described him in three words: My dad was a brave man.
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