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On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the protests on July 11, 2021, the Cuban Movement of Conscientious Objectors (MOC) issued a direct call to the generals and colonels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and MININT to remove the Castro family from power.
According to the statement published by the movement, led by retired Brigadier General Rafael del Pino —the highest-ranking officer to have broken with the Cuban regime—, the message was clear: "Remove that family from the throne they intend to secure for their descendants."
The MOC questioned the active military about whether, on this fifth anniversary of July 11th, they would defend what they referred to as the "First Monarchy of Latin America," and urged them to take a decisive step.
"If what has paralyzed them so far from assuming the role that corresponds to them is the possibility of international intervention, then they should fulfill their duty and directly take power alongside the people, who are the only legitimate sovereign," the text states.
The statement, published on the portal Cuba Siglo 21, also described Cuba not as a socialist country under a communist party, but as "a mafia state controlled by a kleptocratic oligarchy that steals resources from the people and uses you as a private mercenary army."
One of the triggers for the message was the interview that Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, known as "El Cangrejo" and the grandson of Raúl Castro, gave to USA Today on July 7, 2026, in which he offered himself as a potential negotiator with Donald Trump and positioned himself as an emerging political figure despite claiming that "he has never been interested in politics."
The MOC did not let those statements go unanswered: "The pretensions and attitudes of the frivolous and ignorant 'Cangrejo,' elevated above the institutions to statesman by virtue of his belonging to the royal family, would be laughable if they were not so irritating in the current circumstances."
The Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz confirmed on Saturday that the negotiating team led by "El Cangrejo" operates with the direct backing of Raúl Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel, which for the MOC confirms that real power in Cuba resides in the family and not in the institutions.
The call comes at a time of extreme crisis: blackouts of up to 25 hours a day, the informal dollar at 670 Cuban pesos, over 1,281 political prisoners —338 of whom are directly linked to the events of July 11— and a historical record of 107 street protests recorded in just June 2026.
On the same Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanded the immediate release of Cuban political prisoners and urged the regime for "real reforms before it's too late," describing the 176 economic measures approved by Havana in June as superficial gestures that do not address the political monopoly of the Communist Party.
It is not the first time that the MOC has made this kind of call: in January 2026, it had already urged the armed forces to take the side of the people, and in October 2022, it made a similar appeal to MININT and the FAR. However, this anniversary call is the most explicit: it directly asks the military to assume power.
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