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Over the weekend, Sandro Castro — grandson of Fidel Castro and self-styled “influencer” — posted a glossy flyer for a two‑day VIP party in Varadero. The images were all sun, sand and cocktails. The reality back home is rolling blackouts, empty shelves and a crumbling power grid. The contrast is not subtle. It is grotesque.
Party in the ruins: Sandro’s VIP weekend
Sandro’s Instagram Stories advertised a full social calendar: beach parties, a hotel tour, jet skis and a nighttime after‑party. He even leaned into a comic alter ego, “Vampirach,” to sell Cristal beer — a brand long seized by the Cuban regime and repurposed as part of his personal branding. For anyone paying attention, it looked less like a pop‑up nightclub and more like the sort of private show the nomenklatura used to throw while the rest of the island went without basic services.
Who really profits? The military’s tourism money machine
Here’s the part the glossy pictures don’t show: the hotel hosting big parties in Varadero has ties to GAESA, the Cuban military conglomerate that now controls much of the island’s tourism industry. International operators like Blue Diamond Resorts pulled out and rebranded last year, yet hotels continue to sell summer packages under GAESA management and ticket sales go through Gaviota Tours. Translation: tourists and influencers keep handing cash to a military empire while ordinary Cubans see none of that money.
Hypocrisy on display while Cubans suffer
Meanwhile, much of Cuba is enduring persistent blackouts and food shortages. State media admits the grid is failing; independent reports show rolling outages and infrastructure collapse. But the hotels stay lit. Sandro poses with cocktails and complaints about being “not privileged,” which would be funny if it weren’t so insulting. The optics are appalling: the grandson of the man who built the regime partying as the country around him falls apart.
What should happen next?
First, don’t let glossy social posts whitewash tyranny. Western companies should scrutinize any business that routes money to GAESA or other regime arms. Second, policymakers should maintain targeted pressure on the regime’s revenue streams, while supporting independent Cuban voices. And finally, media should call out the hypocrisy when the Castro dynasty’s descendants play influencer in villas while the grid goes dark for millions. If we want to help Cubans, we should stop applauding the performance and start cutting the money that props up the show.
