The Spanish singer Pastora Soler has recently explained the origin of the viral photo that showed her, during her visit to Cuba in 2018, sharing a table and lobsters with Mariela Castro, daughter of Raúl Castro.
The singer was invited to the island to participate in the Days Against Gender Violence and the 30th anniversary of CENESEX—the National Center for Sex Education directed by Mariela herself—at a time when Cuba was debating the inclusion of same-sex marriage in its new Constitution.
Pastora Soler shares that she participated without payment, motivated by her connection to the Cuban LGTBI community, whose drag venues had been using her songs for some time.
However, what he couldn’t imagine was how expensive the adventure would turn out to be.
"I was set up", asserted in an interview for the Spanish Television program "El Perro Andaluz" the Sevillian artist, who also reflected on the consequences that image had for her career and emotional well-being.
“I am a tourist, I come here, they are treating me well because I have come to be part of something without being paid,” she stated on the program, reminiscing about how she experienced the food that eventually became a problem for her.
The episode that changed everything took place at a lunch held in a luxurious penthouse overlooking the Havana seawall, which operated as a private paladar.
There, alongside other figures -including the then-transsexual PSOE deputy Carla Antonelli- Mariela Castro appeared and they were served lobster.
Pastora Soler acknowledged her lack of knowledge about the symbolic significance of that seafood in Cuba.
“They place me at that meal with Mariela Castro next to me, serving me lobster, which I also didn’t know was such a controversial thing, since Cubans are prohibited from eating lobster,” he recounted.
One of the diners took a photo of the scene, and the image quickly spread on social media.
“They set a trap for me, because I really knew very well what I had to do,” stated the singer, who was scheduled to cross into Miami just two days later to perform a concert on December 1, 2018, as part of her tour La Calma.
However, after the photo was circulated, the Miami concert was canceled by the production team due to the pressure from the Cuban community in that city.
The personal consequences were equally harsh.
“I was traumatized because I believe it's the first time in my life I've had haters... I had to remove myself from social media, I had to disable private messages on Facebook because they were calling me all sorts of names,” she confessed on the show.
“Communist, red, bitch, in other words, everything... I've been called everything because of that,” he detailed.
“You see, I took that out of my head, even though I still get little messages telling me all sorts of things,” she recounted, specifying that, even so many years later, she still carries the consequences of that photo.
In "Un Chien Andalou," the artist concluded the episode with a statement that elicited laughter in the studio:
"And I don't even like lobster. [...] I like shrimp, baby shrimp, prawns. [...] I don't think I even ate lobster that day."
The first clarification dates back to 2018
On December 2, 2018, Pastora Soler published a statement on Facebook in which she clarified her position.
"I want to make it very clear that my involvement in Cuba was solely a gesture of solidarity and was not motivated by any financial interests, with the sole purpose of offering my music in support of a group that has always been mistreated," he said at the time.
In that text, she also specified that it wasn't her who canceled the Miami concert, but the promoter, and she left the door open to return
"I have not canceled the concert in Miami under any circumstances, and I will be delighted, now more than ever, to return to that audience that has always shown me so much love."
However, such a return has not materialized. Almost eight years after the incident, Pastora Soler has not returned to Miami.
It is well known that lobster is a symbol of the regime's inequality in Cuba: inaccessible to the vast majority of Cubans, while the political elite consumes it with complete normality.
The image of Raúl Castro's daughter enjoying that delicacy alongside a Spanish artist invited by the regime was perceived at the time—and even more so today—as a display of privilege that contrasts sharply with the chronic scarcity experienced by the Cuban people.
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