A young Cuban identified only as Angie, 23 years old, starred in an unprecedented moment on French television by directly questioning Fabien Roussel, the national secretary of the French Communist Party (PCF) and candidate for the 2027 presidential elections, regarding his public support for the ruling Miguel Díaz-Canel.
The confrontation took place on September 9 during the program «La Grande Confrontation» (“The Great Confrontation” in English) on the LCI channel, hosted by journalist David Pujadas.
“The Great Confrontation” is one of the spaces for political and social debate on the French channel LCI, part of the TF1 Group. Hosted by Pujadas and broadcast during prime time, the program brings together political figures with citizens, experts, and other guests to directly discuss current issues.
One of its distinctive features is precisely the face-to-face engagement, which allows citizens of different backgrounds to question and challenge leaders and candidates directly, without intermediaries.
Invited to the program, the Cuban Angie asked Roussel directly: «Doesn't it embarrass you to support a dictator?», referring to a message of support that the communist leader had directed to Díaz-Canel in January 2026. The exchange was captured and broadcast by the program «Quotidien», hosted by Yann Barthès, and garnered over 672,000 views on Facebook.
Roussel evaded the question and responded that he had had "the opportunity to meet with the president of the Cuban Republic to speak with him," refusing to utter the word "dictator." Angie did not back down and emphasized her words above those of the French politician: "Dictator," the young woman gently insisted when Roussel said the word "president."
In light of the confrontation of terms, the host directly posed the question to the French communist leader: “Do you call him president or dictator?” In response to Roussel's insistence on referring to him as “president of the Republic,” the Cuban was emphatic: “He is a dictator, nobody elected him.”
The presenter Pujadas also intervened to point out that Roussel "was beating around the bush," as reported by Le Figaro in its coverage of the program. To close the exchange, Roussel stated that he would never endorse violations of freedoms "in any country, in Cuba or anywhere else," a statement that the journalist Jean-Michel Aphatie unequivocally labeled as a "XXL lie" in the review of the television program Quotidien.
Aphatie recalled that the PCF has supported the Cuban regime since the very first day of the revolution, January 1, 1959, and that Roussel is true to that tradition. He also emphasized the uniqueness of the moment: "I had never seen a leader of the Communist Party confronted by a Cuban woman who had fled her country because she was deprived of freedom".
The affinity of the PCF with the Havana regime has a history spanning decades. In December 2022, Roussel led a delegation to Cuba and was received by Díaz-Canel, who described the visit as an "act of bravery."
In September 2025, both parties signed a cooperation agreement described as "historic" regarding the exchange of delegations and ideological cooperation. Additionally, Roussel has called for an end to the "unbearable blockade" against Cuba and Venezuela before representatives of both governments.
Roussel had officially announced his presidential candidacy for 2027 just three days before the program, following a vote by PCF militants on September 6. The confrontation with Angie, therefore, occurred right at the start of his campaign.
The French government, for its part, has maintained a more nuanced stance than that of the PCF: in April, it called for reforms in Cuba and warned about risks to human rights on the island, in contrast to the unconditional alignment of the communist party.
Angie's full name has not been revealed in any of the consulted media, but her question — "Aren't you ashamed to support a dictator?" — is already widely circulating on social media as a symbol of the protest that many Cubans abroad have been trying to convey to a European left that has historically looked the other way.
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