Sandro Castro, grandson of the dictator Fidel Castro, starred in a new viral moment this Sunday during a live social media session with the content creator known as 'El Guajiro de TikTok'.
In a conversation with the provocative influencer Jesús Arturo Blanco León, a content creator residing in the United States but sympathetic to the Cuban regime, Sandro openly expressed admiration for his deceased grandfather, referring to him as a "tanke" — a Cuban colloquial expression that highlights someone's strength or virtues.
In the video, shared on TikTok by the user @apoyo6531, Sandro referred to "La Piedra," a popular nickname that refers to the granite monolith that serves as the tomb and sarcophagus of the dictator Fidel Castro at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago de Cuba.
Blanco León, who at one time was exposed by journalist Mario Pentón as a mouthpiece for Castroism, shared with Sandro about a live broadcast he had recently done, which left him with a feeling of "sadness" and widespread bitterness among exiled Cubans who wish for the fall of the regime.
"Just look, I said: if La Piedra were still standing, my brother, he would say 'gather all my loved ones,' because here, they have everyone thrown aside," said El Guajiro from TikTok, expressing his opinion on what Castro's reaction would be now to the legal offensive from the United States against Raúl and the relatives of both dictators.
The dictator's grandson took the opportunity to interrupt Blanco León with enthusiastic claims: "My brother, that was the tanke, that was the tanke!" Sandro said, raising his fist in support of his grandfather. "The figures wouldn't have gone so far back," he concluded.
"Boy, I respect La Piedra, I really do, I always respect him," El Guajiro de TikTok quickly said, to which Sandro replied in a philosophical tone: "But there is always a way out, buddy. After the bad times, good times come. Remember that, it's the logic of life. There is always a way out, and when something bad happens, good things follow."
This is not the first time the dictator's grandson refers to his grandfather as "La Piedra." On May 15, amidst a wave of nighttime protests in Havana over blackouts, he posted on Instagram the message "Don't use La Piedra to ignite the fire," interpreted by many as a veiled defense of Fidel's legacy.
Ten days later, Sandro released another video titled "Presentin La Piedra", which reignited the debate about the ambiguous use of the term and its positioning regarding the regime.
This statement contrasts with the criticisms that Sandro himself has directed at the current government. In an interview with CNN at the end of March, he stated that the ruling Miguel Díaz-Canel "is not doing a good job" and declared that "most Cubans want capitalism, not communism."
In that same interview, Sandro revealed that the State Security had summoned him for interrogation due to his satirical videos, highlighting the tension between his public profile and the power structures inherited by his family.
The funerary monolith that Sandro refers to as "The Stone" is a granite rock over four meters tall, extracted from the Las Guásimas quarry, near La Gran Piedra in the Sierra Maestra. It was designed in 2006, constructed starting in 2010, and completed on December 4, 2016, ten days after the dictator's death. The lid is made of green marble from Guatemala, inscribed with the name "Fidel."
In April, a young Cuban confronted Sandro during a TikTok live stream and harshly criticized him for his privileged lifestyle, in an episode that also garnered wide circulation on social media.
Sandro Castro's public profile in 2026 is characterized by a blend of criticisms of the Díaz-Canel government and claims regarding his grandfather's legacy, a ambiguity that continues to provoke responses among Cubans both on and off the Island.
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