Fidel Castro’s grandson backs capitalism and Trump deal, slams Cuba leader

Sandro Castro Arteaga.

Photo: Instagram/sandro_castrox Amid ongoing talks between the Trump administration and Cuban leaders, Sandro Castro, the controversial grandson of Fidel Castro, told a major US television news network that most Cubans on the island want to embrace capitalism and that the country’s hand-picked president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, has done a poor job.

His statements to CNN’s Havana correspondent, Patrick Oppmann, echoed earlier calls by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a change of leadership in Havana, and seem to suggest that some people in the government would be in favour of striking a deal with President Donald Trump’s administration. “There are many people in Cuba who think in a capitalistic way.

There are many people here who want to do capitalism with sovereignty,” Castro said. “I think the majority of Cubans want to be capitalist, not communist.” That is the opposite of the official government line, which has communism enshrined in the country’s constitution and has refused to open up the country’s economy.

Castro’s comments contrast with the array of recent interviews by Cuban officials, including Diaz-Canel, on US media and other international outlets, trying to convey the message to the Trump administration that Cuban leaders are united and unwilling to negotiate political changes.

Asked about Diaz-Canel, who has vowed to resist US pressure, Castro said, “I would not say he is doing a good job.

For me, he is not doing a good job because he should have done many things a long time ago that he didn’t do well.” Sandro Castro Arteaga, 33, has no official position in the Cuban government.

He is the son of Alexis Castro Soto del Valle, a telecommunications engineer and one of Fidel Castro’s five children with Dalia Soto del Valle.

His cousin and grandson of Raul Castro, Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, 41, met members of Rubio’s team on the Caribbean island of St Kitts last month in backchannel talks.

Sandro Castro owns a popular bar in Havana and is an aspiring influencer, with over 140,000 followers on social media, who usually enrages Cubans on the island and abroad for his lavish lifestyle, which he often boasts about online.

In 2021, he caused such an uproar when he posted a video of himself driving a Mercedes-Benz, a luxury car rarely seen on Cuban streets, that he publicly apologised, apparently under pressure from family members.

While he said in the CNN interview that he does not enjoy special benefits because o

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