The Secretary of State Marco Rubio published a satellite infographic of Cayo Piedra, the private island of the Castro family south of Cuba, on X this Tuesday, with the caption "Private island of the corrupt regime in Cuba," thereby amplifying the diplomatic offensive that the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Michael Waltz, had launched hours earlier at the General Assembly.
The infographic released by Rubio, titled "Castro's Cay," meticulously highlights each facility of the enclave: Castro's main house, a guest house, pool, helipad, dock, floating restaurant, a dolphin enclosure, and in the northern area, a missile launcher.
Waltz had published that same day a 41-second video on his official account describing the place with irony: "Why settle for seaside mansions when you can have your own private island? That's right, the Castro family has its own private island, Cayo Piedra: private marina, a yacht, a floating restaurant, luxurious accommodations for guests, a pool, even a lagoon for dolphins as pets."
The ambassador added that the regime also owns another island with exotic animals, and summarized the central contradiction in his account: "The corruption of the Cuban regime is astonishing: they relax on their private island while their people have no food or electricity."
Cayo Piedra is located approximately 15 kilometers south of the Bay of Pigs, on the southern coast of Matanzas. Its facilities were primarily built in the 1970s under the direction of Osmany Cienfuegos, and its existence remained hidden from most Cubans for decades.
The main documentary source about the enclave is the book by former bodyguard Juan Reinaldo Sánchez, who protected Castro for 17 years and described how the Cuban leader came to know the place after the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, turning it into his private summer refuge. According to that account, among the notable visitors who frequented the key were Gabriel García Márquez, Barbara Walters, and Ted Turner.
The Cayo Piedra exhibition was part of a broader diplomatic offensive by Washington at the UN, where Waltz also displayed images of Fidel Castro's two Rolex watches — valued at $40,000, equivalent to 55 years of the average Cuban salary — a beach retreat in Varadero measuring 14,000 square meters, and a 50-meter yacht sailing through the Mediterranean.
Waltz directly challenged the regime's narrative about the embargo: "In some way, this blockade—so to speak—that doesn't exist, does not apply to luxury goods. In some way, these goods reach the elites of the Cuban regime."
The session turned into one of the most chaotic episodes of the General Assembly in recent years: Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla physically approached the podium where Waltz was speaking, forcing the President of the Assembly, Khalilur Rahman, to briefly suspend the session. A member of the Cuban delegation also tried to snatch the phone from Waltz's spokesperson while recording the confrontation.
Waltz replied without yielding: "Mr. Chancellor, this is how it's going to work: every time you interrupt me, I will continue explaining just how corrupt this regime is, and I will do so more slowly."
International support for the Cuban resolution against the embargo has steadily declined: from 187 votes in 2024 to 165 in 2025 and to 136 in the extraordinary session of July 2026, the lowest level in more than a decade. The final vote was scheduled for this Wednesday.
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