The Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR) of Cuba posted a video on its social media featuring Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, the first Cuban to travel to space, planting a cedar tree after a meeting with young members of the Tank Division of the FAR.
The images, shared by the official MINFAR account, show the reserve brigadier general —in olive green uniform, military cap, and numerous medals on his chest— removing red soil with a shovel next to a small cedar plant, while young soldiers and a tank can be seen in the background.
The text accompanying the publication is brief: "With the planting of a cedar, the meeting of the Hero of the Republic of Cuba, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, with young people from the Tank Division concluded."
The video features the watermark "Raúl is Raúl" adorned with golden stars, which is part of a campaign to promote the figure of Raúl Castro within the FAR, and was accompanied by the hashtags #FARCuba and #RaúlEsRaúl.
The image contrasts with the historical stature of the protagonist. Tamayo, who is now 84 years old, became on September 18, 1980 the first Cuban, the first Latin American, and the first of African descent to travel to space, aboard Soyuz 38 alongside Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko, as part of the Soviet Intercosmos program.
That mission lasted seven days and twenty hours, completed 124 orbits around the Earth, and docked with the Salyut 6 space station. Tamayo had been selected in March 1978 from 600 candidates to join the program.
Since then, the regime has used it repeatedly in official events, ceremonies, and image campaigns.
The post did not go unnoticed on social media. The tone of many comments was ironic regarding the image of a man who orbited Earth being shown planting a tree as a promotional act.
It is not the first time that Tamayo has sparked controversy on social media. In October 2019, the cosmonaut hurled insults on Twitter at Cubans who are critical of the government, referring to them as "the anti-Cuban, traitorous, and putrid scum," and warned that "the new mercenaries on social media will also be crushed like worms." Those messages drew further ridicule due to their notable spelling mistakes.
In 2017, UNESCO awarded him a medal in recognition of his career, an honor that contrasts with the decorative and propagandistic role that the regime continues to assign him decades after his space achievement.
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