Sandro Castro, grandson of Fidel Castro, visited the 26 Zoo in Havana and posted a reel on Instagram in which he uses animals as symbols of regime figures and associates them with everyday issues in Cuba.
Sandro had announced the visit with a phrase that already hinted at the tone of his video. "I'm going with Magnolia, since it's Pioneer Day to the zoo, because humans no longer understand me. I want to talk for a while with the animals."
The reel begins with Sandro emerging from behind a large stone at the zoo entrance, serving as a reminder of his grandfather's grave. It unleashed an intense wave of interpretations among Cuban internet users, who saw a concealed political reference in each animal.
The camel is identified with the Cuban people enduring without water or resources, a direct reference to the shortage in neighborhoods like El Cerro.
The ostrich points, according to followers, to General Guillermo García Frías and his failed 2019 project to raise ostriches as a substitute for livestock, when he claimed on national television that the bird was "capable of producing more than a cow".
Sandro offers a beer to the monkey, telling him that he likes him for being a drinker and promises to remove the lazo. It's a direct reference to the president of the National Assembly of the People's Power, Esteban Lazo.
The deer behind bars represents political prisoners. The reference to "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves" would point to corrupt figures in the upper echelons of power.
The chosen setting is not accidental. The 26 Zoo was reported in 2025 by its own workers for neglect, malnourished animals, dirty cages, and lack of food. An employee summarized the situation with a phrase that went viral: "If there is nothing for the Cubans, what will there be for the animals?"
The visit to the zoo occurs at a time of increasing public prominence for Sandro. On March 31, he gave an interview to CNN in which he stated that "most Cubans want to be capitalists," not communists, and directly criticized Miguel Díaz-Canel.
The zoo reel, with its double entendre, is a continuation of that critical stance, using animal metaphors to evade the regime's censorship and to appear humorous.
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