Manolín "The Doctor of Salsa" issued a direct challenge to the Cuban leaders in a video just over two minutes long posted on Facebook, in which he demands they practice communism in their own lives before imposing it on the people.
"You have every right to be communists. No one is stopping you. If that is the ideology you believe in, if that is the life you enjoy, then practice it. In your own home," says the Cuban musician in the clip.
The message goes beyond rhetoric: Manolín precisely outlines what that ideological coherence would entail.
"They move to a modest, simple house, look for a modest, simple car, like a Lada, for example, without luxury, without ostentation, without brand-name clothes, and buy in the same places that the humble people shop. That is what it means to be a communist," he states.
Only then, he argues, would they have the moral authority to defend that ideology, although he clarifies that even in that case, they could not impose it.
"Once you practice it, at least you have the moral authority to proclaim it, you have the moral authority to suggest it, but you still cannot impose it. No one has that right," she declares.
The core of the video directly targets the hypocrisy of the ruling elite.
"And even less from a mansion in Siboney with air conditioning and a pool, from a Mercedes-Benz or a BMW with the roles in place, your children traveling the entire world or living like kings in the best capitalist countries, while you impose a communism of misery and poverty on the people with your shamelessness," Manolín fires back.
Siboney is a residential neighborhood in Havana historically associated with the Cuban political and military elite since 1959, marked by critics of the regime as a symbol of the privileges of the nomenclature.
Manolín also questions the legitimacy of the regime to remain in power.
"You are in power by force, you know that. If you give the people a choice, they will throw all of you out. You have squandered 70 years of absolute power. You are maintaining control through force, imprisoning people, beating them, and exiling anyone who raises their voice," he concludes in the video.
After his reflection, the musician posted on Facebook an image with text in white letters on a black background: "The Cuban revolution is not a love story. It is a sad and traumatic tale of deception, kidnapping, theft, abuse, blackmail, crime, and punishment."
The video, for its part, is framed within a sustained escalation of the artist's political discourse throughout this year. In April, he criticized Díaz-Canel's call for mobilization and lashed out at the campaign "My signature for the Homeland," urging Cubans not to save their executioners.
In May, he declared that “there is nothing more to discuss with the dictatorship” and encapsulated his stance with the phrase “they will leave or we will make them leave,” even asking for the support of the United States to overthrow the regime.
Manolín, whose real name is Manuel González Hernández, left Cuba in September 2024 after five years back on the island — following two decades abroad — and settled in Spain, where he has progressively radicalized his stance against the dictatorship.
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