Photographs showing Fidel and Raúl Castro fishing in the open sea aboard yachts and enjoying recreational days in an atmosphere of comfort and privilege are circulating this week on social media, published by 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 his 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 It has also not been confirmed that they are previously unpublished photos: similar images of the Castros in privileged contexts have been published before.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 life of luxury 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 of 27.5 meters in length with four engines, two double cabins, a bar, and air conditioning.
The bodyguard revealed that the engines were reportedly a gift from 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 spoken to about austerity and sacrifice in the name of the Revolution, dictators Fidel and Raúl Castro enjoyed the sea, fishing, and the comforts reserved for those at the pinnacle of power," Tan Estrada wrote upon publishing the photographs.
This type of revelation fits into 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, a sauna, and a 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, which reveals "little-known moments of the private lives of the top leaders of the Cuban Revolution."
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