Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, known as "El Cangrejo," could not hold back his emotions this Saturday during the ceremony for the 65th anniversary of the Personal Security Directorate of the MININT, when the official repentista Marcos David Fernández Brunet performed a décima dedicated to his grandfather Raúl Castro.
The image of the visibly affected grandson in response to the laudatory verses referencing the recent rumors about Castro's deteriorating health did not go unnoticed, and on social media, it was ironically labeled as "crab tears."
“And now what will be said to us / is to keep all their evils / their income, their hospitals / their hatred and their poison over there / look closely, here it is / with its brother, with its stirrup / to make the triangle of the flag olive green / whether the empire wants it or not / it will remain alive,” improvised the pro-regime improviser.
The event, held in Havana, commemorated the 65th anniversary of the agency of the Ministry of the Interior responsible for protecting the highest leaders of the regime, which was founded on September 6, 1961.
Raúl Castro led the ceremony alongside the ruling Miguel Díaz-Canel and received a recognition from Brigadier General Emir Mesa Corona, head of the Directorate, for his role as a founder of the organization alongside Fidel Castro.
The Minister of the Interior, Army Corps General Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, read aloud a letter of congratulations sent by Raúl Castro himself to the members of the body.
"I am not exaggerating when I speak of personal security as a loyal family that those of us who have had the responsibility of leading the revolution have had," read one of the passages of that letter.
In the letter, Raúl Castro also paid tribute to the 32 Cuban agents who died in Venezuela on January 3 of this year: "I want to pay tribute today to our 32 comrades who fell in Venezuela while fulfilling their duty, may the blood they shed never be forgotten."
"This meeting has been very exciting for me. I want to express all the affection I feel for you as family, as a brother. And despite having had me under control for more than half of my life, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart," reads the letter.
Castro remained seated in the front row throughout the event, which clearly aimed to quell rumors about his health.
Fernández Brunet, a young repentista from Cienfuegos who won the national prize for repentismo in the television program Palmas y Cañas in 2018, closed the event with a décima of a combative tone, praising the figure of the former president, in line with the artists that the regime includes in its political celebrations.
The reaction from "El Cangrejo" is striking given the profile it has gained in recent months: in July, he granted his first interview to American media, where he spoke about negotiating with Donald Trump and warned that he would not "sacrifice the revolution."
Linked to the Personal Security Directorate since 2016, Raúl Castro's grandson is the son of Débora Castro Espín and General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Callejas, and is regarded as one of the closest individuals to his grandfather's circle of power.
His presence at the event comes just days after international media reported that Raúl Castro was seriously ill and receiving vital assistance, which made his public reappearance at the ceremony all the more significant.
The event also coincided with the centenary of Fidel Castro's birth and the recent 95th birthday of Raúl, whom the official speech presented as "founding leaders and permanent guides" of the regime's personal security.
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