The filmmaker Ian Padrón publicly denounced this week the unauthorized use of the animated character Elpidio Valdés by the Cuban regime, after government officials released a cartoon featuring the iconic mambí as the protagonist in a diplomatic confrontation at the UN.
The image, attributed to the user JaimeDOVA and shared by the Cuban ambassador to the UN, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, uses Elpidio Valdés and his antagonist Mr. Chains to represent a confrontation between the delegations of Cuba and the United States at the United Nations General Assembly. Elpidio appears in a black suit, red tie, and a Cuban flag pin, pointing at an angry Mr. Chains, portrayed as the American delegate. Above the latter, the text reads "LYING GRINGO."
Mr. Chains is a character from the universe of Elpidio Valdés that represents the U.S. economic penetration in Cuba during the 19th-century wars of independence. The illustration depicts him in front of a microphone and the sign of the United States to tailor the character to the current diplomatic context.
The cartoon was also shared by Miguel Díaz-Canel, who published it on October 28 along with a message from Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla with the slogan "Cuba is not a threat, the blockade is," and added his own text describing the U.S. position at the UN as "miserable work."
Ian Padrón directly responded in the comments of Soberón's post with an unambiguous denunciation: "It is yet another outrage—among the many that the Cuban dictatorship has committed—to use the character of Elpidio Valdés (Juan Padrón, 1970) without authorization for propaganda or political positioning. I hope that in a future Cuba, this will be punished and that there will be respect for the copyright of Cuban creators."
Additionally, when sharing his response on his own Facebook page, the filmmaker added: “Cuban bureaucrats would wish to have the popularity and affection that thousands of Cubans feel for this cartoon.” He also insisted: “In any rule of law, copyright would be respected.”
The immediate context of the image is the tense confrontation of the Cuban delegation at the UN on October 27, when Rodríguez Parrilla and other members of the Cuban mission physically advanced toward the podium where U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz was speaking, forcing the Assembly President, Khalilur Rahman, to briefly suspend the session.
The next day, the U.S. expelled the Cuban diplomat Richard Tur de la Concepción, the first secretary of the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the UN, for attempting to snatch the phone from Waltz's spokesperson. The measure was ordered by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
After those incidents, the regime circulated the cartoon featuring Elpidio Valdés as part of its narrative of "victory" over Washington, once again disregarding the stance of the heirs of the character's creator.
This is not the first time Ian Padrón has faced this situation. In August 2024, he already responded to Díaz-Canel when the leader appropriated the symbolism of the character on the 54th anniversary of its creation, and he did so earlier in 2019 during the constitutional referendum and in 2023 during the parliamentary elections.
On all those occasions, the filmmaker has maintained the same position: "We, the heirs of Padrón, are the ones who can decide, because our father gave us that authority. We are the ones who can determine the use of that character, and we have done everything possible to ensure it does not get politically mixed."
Elpidio Valdés was created by Juan Padrón —born in Matanzas in 1947 and passed away in Havana on March 24, 2020— and made his debut in the children's magazine Pionero on August 14, 1970. Ian Padrón has also pointed out that “Cuba's copyright law is quite strict, providing little protection for the true rights of creators,” which allows the regime to continue appropriating others' works without any consequences.
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