Cuban Leader Díaz‑Canel Faces Sharp Criticism and Satire After RT Interview

Cuban playwright and activist Yunior García Aguilera published a column on 14ymedio denouncing President Miguel Díaz‑Canel’s eight‑year rule as a period of economic collapse, soaring inflation, chronic blackouts and a demographic crisis, citing a 77 % inflation rate in 2021 and a death‑to‑birth ratio that doubled in 2025. The critique was prompted by Díaz‑Canel’s July 20 interview with Russian‑language RT, in which he invoked a reinterpretation of “utopia.”

In parallel, Cuban writer Armando Añel released a satirical “imaginary interview” that lampooned Díaz‑Canel’s recent appearance in Pinar del Río—white Panama hat, dark sunglasses and a black shirt—fueling memes that compared the leader to a 1930s gangster. The piece riffs on the real interview’s rhetoric and highlights the social‑media reaction to the leader’s style and statements.

Both articles illustrate growing dissent and cultural push‑back against the Cuban regime’s narrative and policies.