The grandson of Fidel Castro, Sandro Castro, posted a video on his social media yesterday in which he subtly mocks the official parade for International Workers' Day in Cuba, while Raúl Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel led the march in Havana with the slogan "The Homeland Defends Itself."
In the clip, Sandro talks with "Magnolia" —the rubber hand he uses as a character in his videos— and tells her that he dreamt they were both at a parade. "Strange dream, Magnolia, and there was a lemon vendor there, oh my God," he says in the video, using the ironic tone that defines his presence on social media.
The end of the clip leaves no doubt about its intention: "The only thing is, Magnolia, that you and I are going to drink because it's May 1st and we don't work on Labor Day."
While Sandro was toasting, the regime was staging a march in Havana with a distinctly political-military tone. Thousands of Cubans, organized into 15 unions, marched from four points in the capital towards the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribune, where Díaz-Canel called on people to defend the country "against the genocidal blockade and the gross imperial threats."
The event was far from being spontaneous. Reports indicated that many participants attended under pressure from work or school, and in Santiago de Cuba recently released prisoners were forced to participate in the march.
The video of Sandro adds to a recurring pattern of striking actions every May Day. In 2025, he participated in the official march shouting parody slogans while holding a bottle of Cristal beer: "Radio Vampiro broadcasts! Long live May Day!". In 2024, he launched a parachute in tribute to the occasion.
His figure is generating increasing debate in 2026. After granting interviews to CNN and NBC criticizing Díaz-Canel —"In my opinion, he is not doing a good job"— and defending "capitalism with sovereignty," analyst Camilo Loret de Mola labeled him yesterday as a “manipulated clown of the regime”, questioning whether his apparent dissent is genuine or a tool of Castroism to project an image of openness.
The debate over the authenticity of Sandro intensifies also because, according to a report from the Food Monitor Program in February 2026, his businesses enjoy privileges in imports, which contrasts with the image of a system critic that he projects on social media.
The First of May in Cuba has been described as a sad spectacle by critical observers, amid a context of acute economic crisis and tensions with the United States, with 94-year-old Raúl Castro sitting front and center alongside Díaz-Canel.
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