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The Cuban comedian Ulises Toirac published an analysis on Facebook this Tuesday regarding Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, known as "El Cangrejo," which encapsulates in one phrase the true dynamics of power in Cuba: the surname Castro is worth more than any formal position.
The text from Toirac comes days after El Cangrejo granted his first interview to a U.S. media outlet, USA Today, from the office that once belonged to his grandfather in the Havana Convention Center, where he declared his willingness to negotiate directly with Donald Trump regarding the future of Cuba.
"If there is one thing that Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro is not, it is crazy. His statements and projection have a solid foundation that he perceives clearly and arise from his life experience," wrote Toirac in his Facebook post.
The comedian outlines the pillars of that real power: at 42 years old, El Cangrejo is the favored grandson of Raúl Castro and served as his chief bodyguard for years, which gave him even greater access to the inner circle than the former president himself, whom he was tasked with keeping from any distress.
Also contributing to this is the influence of his father, the late General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, who led GAESA, the military-business conglomerate that controls between 50% and 80% of business revenue in Cuba.
For Toirac, this dual connection—familial and economic-military—makes El Cangrejo the most significant actor in present-day Cuba, surpassing any official title.
The comedian highlights a telling difference between El Cangrejo and Miguel Díaz-Canel: the formal president has spent over a month granting two interviews a week to international media without generating the impact of a single appearance by Rodríguez Castro.
Toirac attributes this to what he calls the "sentimental anchor": "One is completely familial. The other does not have the medallion."
This informal hierarchy has concrete expressions. According to the news portal, El Cangrejo refers to the Cuban president as “Miguelito,” a diminutive that precisely reflects the actual distance between them within the system.
This Thursday, the official from the Ideological Department of the PCC, Elier Ramírez Cañedo, officially confirmed that El Cangrejo acts as "the interlocutor for the Cuban side, by decision of the country's top leadership," describing the criticisms as "manipulations and lies."
Reactions within Cuba have also been striking. Singer-songwriter Israel Rojas publicly apologized for being "naive" in not believing the allegations about the privileges of the elite, while broadcaster Laritza Camacho quipped, "Of course, he can negotiate if he has pedigree, money, and blue eyes."
Toirac concludes his analysis with a statement that summarizes the logic of late Castroism: "Not having any position doesn't matter at all. A slap from him on a table knocks over more glasses than anyone else's slap."
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