One of the main media spokespersons of the Cuban regime, Lázaro Manuel Alonso Castro, has once again sparked comments on social media.
On this occasion, it wasn’t one of his passionate defenses of the communist government, nor any of his usual attacks against opponents and independent journalists, but rather an enthusiastic message dedicated to the Spanish national football team.
After La Roja's victory, Alonso posted on his Facebook profile: "We are champions! Go Spain in the final," a statement that did not go unnoticed among his followers and that many interpreted as a personal identification with the Spanish team.
The publication immediately revived the rumors that have been circulating for over a year regarding the communicator's acquisition of Spanish citizenship.
In January 2025, the portal CubitaNOW reported that Alonso had obtained Spanish nationality through family ancestry and was even preparing a trip to Spain, citing sources close to the official spokesperson. On that occasion, the media recalled that years earlier, the rejection of a U.S. visa application submitted by the communicator had also been revealed.
Although Alonso has never publicly announced that he has obtained Spanish citizenship, the use of "we are" to celebrate Spain's victory has been interpreted by many users as a new indication of that connection.
The spontaneity of the message, published in the midst of the euphoria following La Roja's victory, seemed to go beyond the usual political caution that typically characterizes one of the most visible figures of the regime's communication apparatus.
Comments quickly started to appear. There was one particularly notable exchange. When a user wrote to him, "We're not, you are Cuban," Alonso replied: "I’d better not respond to you here. Haha".
Far from resolving the issue, the response fueled new speculations. Immediately afterward, another commentator intervened to assert that the communicator is also Spanish, a claim that was not refuted by Alonso either.
The conversation does not serve as proof of his Spanish nationality. However, when combined with previously published information regarding the acquisition of that citizenship and the use of "we are," it provides new elements that many users have interpreted as an implicit admission or, at the very least, as a refusal to deny a status that Alonso has never publicly acknowledged until now.
From a strictly linguistic standpoint, the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) defines "súbdito" as the "native or citizen of a country as subject to the political authorities of that country," a definition that turns the term into a synonym for citizen.
In the Spanish case, this also implies the status of a subject of the Kingdom of Spain, a circumstance that is particularly striking given that it involves one of the most visible faces of Cuban official propaganda.
The irony has not gone unnoticed by many observers. For years, Alonso Castro has been one of the most active voices in defense of the Cuban regime.
After the protests of July 11, 2021, he participated in media campaigns against activists, artists, and independent journalists, defended the official narrative regarding the protests, and received the Juan Gualberto Gómez National Journalism Award that same year for his propaganda efforts related to the campaign against the song Patria y Vida.
More recently, he realigned himself with the government's discourse by calling for sanctions against officials who, in his view, hinder the implementation of the 176 economic measures approved by the National Assembly, insisting on strengthening political control over those who deviate from the line set by those in power.
Precisely because of that role, his enthusiastic celebration of the Spanish victory takes on a political dimension that transcends the sporting aspect.
Who for years has served as one of the main media defenders of a one-party system, without free elections, political pluralism, and freedom of the press, seemed to feel sufficiently identified with a parliamentary democracy to speak of it in the first person plural.
The contradiction is hard to overlook. While he has spent much of his career justifying the positions of the totalitarian Cuban regime and discrediting opponents, activists, artists, and independent journalists, the communicator spontaneously celebrated with a "we are" the victory of a country whose Constitution precisely acknowledges many of the rights and freedoms that the Cuban State restricts or denies.
It is paradoxical that one of the main spokespersons for the Castro dictatorship takes pride—at least in the sports arena—in a condition associated with a democratic state to which hundreds of thousands of Cubans have emigrated precisely in search of the freedoms and opportunities they cannot find in their own country.
Perhaps the euphoria of the moment played a trick on him. Or maybe, simply, the football enthusiasm ended up voicing what he had preferred not to publicly confirm until now.
At least in the footballing arena, Lázaro Manuel Alonso Castro chose to speak in the first person plural.
"We are championsssss".
A single word was enough to reopen the debate about his possible Spanish citizenship and to expose a contradiction that is hard to overlook: that of a spokesperson for the Cuban regime who, in a moment of enthusiasm, seemed to proudly claim his affiliation—whether legal or sentimental—to a European democracy.
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