The Cuban regime once again resorted this weekend to one of its favorite propaganda images to present Raúl Castro: that of the old warrior who, despite the passing of years, is supposedly still ready for battle.
During the event for the 65th anniversary of the Personal Security Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), held in Havana and led by Castro alongside Miguel Díaz-Canel, Brigadier General Emir Mesa Corona stated that the former leader, 95 years old, remains “with one foot in the stirrup ready to defend the Revolution.”
The phrase is neither coincidental nor new. It has become a recurring element in the propaganda surrounding Castro since he formally stepped down from the leadership of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) in 2021.
In that farewell, Raúl himself stated that he would continue as “a revolutionary fighter, ready to make my modest contribution until the end of my life” and that he would be “standing at the ready to defend the homeland, the Revolution, and socialism stronger than ever.”
Since then, the official propaganda has repeatedly relied on the equestrian metaphor to convey a very specific idea: Raúl may have stepped down from his positions, but not from his symbolic power or his role as the guardian of the system built by the Castro brothers.
A Raúl "ready" for battle
The Cuban presidency took the rhetoric much further this time. In its account of the event, it described Castro as a man of "steadfastness" and "the lineage of an undefeated guerrilla," while Mesa Corona presented him as an "exemplar of austerity" and "a paradigm of organization, planning, demand, and discipline."
The head of Personal Security also stated that Raúl "has devoted his life to upholding the principles of the Socialist Revolution" and claimed that he is the one who teaches that "there is no battle impossible to win."
The epic imagery inevitably contrasts with the protagonist's age and with the persistent rumors about his health that have accompanied his prolonged absences from the public scene.
This Saturday, Castro sat in the front row during the event, received recognition as "Founding Chief" of the Personal Security Directorate, and listened to the tributes prepared in his honor. His appearance gained particular significance in light of new speculations about his health.
CiberCuba has previously documented how each episode of rumors surrounding Castro tends to provoke a reaction from the official apparatus aimed at publicly reaffirming his political vitality.
From "Raúl is Raúl" to "foot in the stirrup"
One of the most obvious examples occurred in September 2025. After a rumor circulated about the supposed death of the general, state institutions, ministries, official media, and accounts linked to the regime's apparatus launched a coordinated campaign under the slogans "Raúl is Raúl" and "And he’s still here".
The posters shared colors, designs, and messages that were virtually identical. They featured Castro dressed in olive green and once again accompanied by the slogan «With One Foot in the Stirrup».
The Ministry of Tourism then proclaimed: "He remains with one foot in the stirrup. He has not dismounted, he has not gone away. His mark continues to set the pace."
The phrase «Raúl is Raúl» also reflects another old mechanism of the Cuban official discourse: turning the leader's name into a sufficient argument to legitimize their authority.
For decades, "Fidel is Fidel" served as an expression of the exceptionalism attributed to the founder of the regime. In 2022, even Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz resorted to the phrase "Fidel is Fidel and Raúl is Raúl" while speaking about the need to maintain the confidence of Cubans in their leaders.
The difference is that now the propaganda seeks to transfer part of that cult to the figure of Raúl Castro, who does not formally hold the presidency or the leadership of the PCC, but continues to be presented as the overarching reference for what is known as "continuity."
"Charge with the machete"
The metaphor of the stirrup also does not appear in isolation. It is associated with a military rhetoric that the regime has intensified in its political messaging.
On the past First of May, the Presidency itself disseminated a message from Castro asserting that they remained «with one foot in the stirrup and ready to charge with machetes».
Raúl had already used practically the same formula on January 1, 2024, during the event for the 65th anniversary of the revolutionary triumph in Santiago de Cuba.
In May of this year, during another act of support for the general, Díaz-Canel once again invoked the metaphor and concluded his message with a phrase that explicitly conveyed the symbolic hierarchy still attributed to the elderly leader: «Continue with your foot in the stirrup. Command!».
The result is a carefully repeated image: a 95-year-old man who, although officially retired from his main political responsibilities, is presented time and again as a commander ready to give orders and engage in battle.
"Unconquered guerrilla," "immense men," and "hermetic bastion."
The chronicle published this Sunday by Presidencia also serves as a catalog of the epic language that continues to dominate much of the Cuban institutional narrative.
Raúl is portrayed as an "undefeated guerrilla"; those responsible for protecting the leadership are described as "brave and loyal," forming a "heroic troop" and creating a "hermetic stronghold"; Fidel and the other protected leaders are depicted as "immense men"; and the 32 Cubans who died in Venezuela are presented as men who "fought like lions."
The Personal Security Directorate itself is described as a "loyal family" of those who have had "the responsibility of leading the Revolution."
In a message read during the event by the Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, Castro urged that the blood of the 32 Cubans who died in Venezuela "should never be forgotten" and that their example becomes "the guiding light" for the members of Personal Security.
Mesa Corona went even further by publicly questioning what the Armed Forces, Military Counterintelligence, MININT, and "every revolutionary Cuban" would do if someone attempted to "kidnap or assassinate" one of the regime's top leaders.
The military chief concluded his speech by reclaiming one of the oldest slogans of Castroism: “We have been, we are, and we will be a Personal Security of Homeland or Death: We will overcome”.
An epic that outlives its protagonists
The insistence on presenting Castro as an active warrior is particularly significant because the regime is facing the inevitable aging and disappearance of the generation that came to power in 1959.
CiberCuba already pointed out in 2023 the contradiction between the announced generational shift and the continued presence of Raúl Castro and other historic leaders in positions of power. A year later, following the deaths of several generals from his generation, this outlet revisited the imagery of "a foot in the stirrup" to highlight the growing contrast between the propaganda of vitality and the inexorable passage of time.
However, far from abandoning that representation, the official apparatus has reinforced it.
The reappearance this Saturday once again demonstrates this. The propaganda does not merely depict a 95-year-old former leader attending a commemorative ceremony: it builds around him the image of a permanent warrior, surrounded by escorts turned into "family," lurking enemies, martyrs serving as examples, and fighters ready to defend the leadership.
More than five years after formally stepping down as head of the Communist Party, Raúl Castro continues to ride the same imaginary horse in the official narrative.
And the regime insists that it still has one foot in the stirrup.
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