Aleida Guevara, daughter of Che Guevara and a propagandistic figure of the Cuban regime, published a video on Facebook for the anniversary of her father's birth in which she called on people not to succumb to money and warned that corruption enters when revolutionary leaders begin to worry about material privileges.
The message, disseminated this Sunday by the page "Por Los Caminos del CHE," arrived laden with unintentional irony: while Aleida preached revolutionary austerity, the heirs and associates of the Castro elite have been openly showcasing a life of luxuries unattainable for most Cubans for years.
Money is a tremendous fetish and can dominate us at times, but if we allow it to become the center of our lives, then we lose ourselves. And we lose the most beautiful things we have achieved over so many years of revolution,” Aleida stated in the video.
In the same message, he quoted a warning from Che that is particularly uncomfortable for the current leadership: "He used to say that the revolutionary framework, for instance, when it starts to worry about the type of shoes its children wear, or what they have or do not have, that is where corruption begins. And unfortunately, they are very right."
Aleida clarified that the message was not only for the people: "This is a message then for all of us, for the whole people in general, but also for the people who lead us."
The contrast with the reality of the regime's elites is hard to overlook. Sandro Castro, grandson of the dictator Fidel Castro, shows off luxury cars, yachts, and private parties on Instagram to over 150,000 followers, and is the owner of Bar EFE in Vedado, which has an entry fee of 1,000 pesos and a minimum consumption of 15,000 pesos, well above the average Cuban salary.
His cousin «El Cangrejo» —Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, grandson of Raúl Castro— made at least 13 private jet flights in 2025 between Cuba, Panama, and Venezuela, according to a report by CNN en Español.
Meanwhile, Manuel Anido Cuesta, the stepson of the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel and son of the "not first lady" Lis Cuesta Peraza, lives in Madrid and studies at IE University Business School, with tuition fees exceeding 12,300 euros per year, and has been photographed wearing clothes valued at over 3,000 dollars.
Lis Cuesta has been spotted wearing luxury watches at public events, while millions of Cubans are facing blackouts of up to twenty hours daily and severe shortages of food and medicine.
This is not the first time that Aleida has been involved in incidents that contradict her statements. In August 2025, she was seen shopping at dollar stores in Havana, which are inaccessible to most Cubans.
In January 2026, Cuban activists confronted her in Seville and demanded an end to the dictatorship; the activist Brayan Infante told her, “your father was a murderer,” to which she replied, “that’s not true.” And on March 8, she appeared wearing a veil on International Women's Day and publicly defended Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran.
Aleida closed her Sunday video with her usual slogan: "Until victory, always." A phrase that, for those observing the privileges of the Castro elite, sounds increasingly hollow.
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