Miguel Díaz-Canel took advantage of this Sunday, Father's Day in Cuba, to publish an official greeting on his X account for the Cuban people.
The message from the ruler is particularly directed towards the five-time Olympic champion Mijaín López, praising him as an ideal father.
In second place, there is the brief text for the rest of the Cuban parents, where Díaz-Canel had the "creative" idea to play with the double meaning of the word "struggle" in the country and compare them to the most decorated athlete in the Olympic history of the island.
«The five-time champion Mijaín is only defeated by the love of his children. Every day he comes down from Olympus to be the earthly hero of Mijailcito and Nayha. Like him, every Cuban father is a champion in the daily struggle, a pillar of strength, the first teacher of values. Congratulations to all!», wrote the leader, signing the message alongside his wife «Lis Cuesta Peraza and family».
The image accompanying the text shows López himself on a wrestling mat with his two children on top, playfully and affectionately.
The reference to Mijaín López is no coincidence. The athlete is the only athlete in Olympic history to win five consecutive gold medals in the same individual event —greco-Roman wrestling 130 kg— in Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and Paris 2024, and he represents one of the most powerful propaganda symbols of the regime.
After his retirement in August 2024, López was honored as Hero of the Republic of Cuba by Raúl Castro in December of that year, and in January 2026 the regime showcased him in Spain as a figure to promote tourism.
However, Díaz-Canel's rhetorical play runs headlong into the reality faced by Cuban parents in 2026.
Cuba is experiencing its worst economic and humanitarian crisis in decades: power outages of up to twenty hours a day, critical shortages of fuel and food, and rampant inflation that is eroding the purchasing power of families.
The "daily struggle of parents in Cuba," which the leader celebrates with a euphemistic sporting tone, is, for millions of families, about surviving without electricity, without food, and, in many cases, separated from their children, parents, uncles, and grandparents.
The emigration divides and defines millions of Cuban families. The regime has fractured households, with parents and children separated for many years, not only by geographical distance but sometimes also by defending an ideology, dedicating their lives to a revolution that ultimately abandoned them.
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