Photographs showing Fidel and Raúl Castro fishing at sea aboard yachts and enjoying recreational outings in an atmosphere of comfort and privilege are circulating on social media this week, published by the Cuban journalist José L. Tan Estrada based on material sent by content creator Alain Paparazzi.
The images, whose authorship has not been independently verified, show the Castro brothers with large catches and posing alongside crew members and other companions.
In at least one of them, Vilma Espín also appears, who was the wife of Raúl Castro, mother of their four children, and president of the Federation of Cuban Women for nearly 47 years, until her death in June 2007.
It has not been possible to determine precisely when or where the photographs were taken. It has also not been confirmed that they are unpublished photos: similar images of the Castros in privileged contexts have been published before.
According to the testimony of former bodyguard Juan Reinaldo Sánchez, Fidel Castro's usual recreational spot was Cayo Piedra, a private island south of the Bay of Pigs in Matanzas.
Sánchez protected the dictator for 17 years and described that luxurious life in his book The Hidden Face of Fidel Castro (2014). To travel to his island refuge, Fidel Castro used the yacht Aquarama II, a vessel measuring 27.5 meters in length, equipped with four engines, two double cabins, a bar, and air conditioning.
The bodyguard revealed that the engines were supposedly a gift from the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and that the wood for the hull was imported from Angola.
The contrast with the life of the average Cuban is hard to ignore. "While the people were told about austerity and sacrifice in the name of the Revolution, the dictators Fidel and Raúl Castro enjoyed the sea, fishing, and the comforts reserved for those at the top of power," wrote Tan Estrada when publishing the photographs.
These types of revelations are part of a documented pattern of privileges that also extends to the subsequent generations of the Castro family.
In June 2025, photographs of the interior of the "Nave Pilar" mansion in Varadero were published, attributed to the use of high-ranking officials, featuring marble floors, armored glass, a gym, sauna, and jacuzzi.
The regime has systematically rejected these accusations. In September, Cuba's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, publicly denied the privileges enjoyed by Cuban leaders, in response to the increasing circulation of this type of material on social media.
Alain Paparazzi, the content creator who provided the photographs, is known for posting reports about the private lives of members of the Castro family on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.
Estrada noted that the images now released "are part of a large volume of information" that Paparazzi has sent him, exposing "little-known moments from the private lives of the top leaders of the Cuban Revolution."
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