The Castro who could end communism in Cuba
Benedict Smith
Washington: Since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, Cuba’s communist regime has survived CIA assassination plots, American blockades and even a US-backed invasion.
The Castro family still controls Cuba more than six decades later, but its grip on power is slipping. This may be the moment when the United States can suppress what it disturbs as communists right under its nose, and it may be Castro’s great-nephew who is allowing this to happen.
Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the grandson of Raúl Castro, the de facto ruler of Cuba, is referred to by some as Raúlito or “little Raúl.”
Others say the massive figure is El Cangrejo – “The Cancer”, a derogatory nickname given to such a powerful individual, referring to the fact that he was born with six fingers on one hand.
But now the 41-year-old is emerging as a force in his own right. While the regime was on the verge of collapse due to US pressure on oil imports, US President Donald Trump’s administration began negotiations with it.
“They are looking for the next Delcy in Cuba,” a source said, referring to Delcy Rodríguez, the Trump-approved Venezuelan leader who took over after Nicolás Maduro was detained.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly initiated back-channel communications with Rodríguez Castro. US officials are also said to have met with him on the sidelines of the Caribbean Community conference in St Kitts and Nevis in late February.
Cuban media now calls him the “forward Cancer”.
This third-generation Castro is poised to be the man who can end his family’s decades-long stalemate with the United States and perhaps the Castro dynasty.
Rodríguez Castro is the son of Débora Castro Espín, Raúl Castro’s eldest daughter, and Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, president of the Cuban military conglomerate Gaesa.
He attended military school before studying accounting and finance at the University of Havana, a cousin said.
She reportedly moved in with Raúl Castro from the age of approximately 11, and their close bond continues to this day. When her grandfather took over the presidency of Cuba in 2008, she constantly stood by his side, effectively serving as his bodyguard.
In many photographs of the former president, the young Castro appears eclipsed.
Rodríguez Castro was officially appointed head of the Dirección General de Seguridad Personal in 2016, essentially a praetorian guard that would protect Cuba’s leaders.
Beyond that, he has strong ties to the military, is thought to own nightclubs in Havana, and is a fixture of the island’s party scene.
In 2023, a woman told Peruvian media that she was run over by Rodríguez Castro while driving his horse carriage in Holguín and was unable to walk. CyberCuba. The same report said he was known for his life of “luxury and debauchery.”
Cuban-Venezuelan political scientist Miguel Alonso said Rodríguez Castro, like the descendants of Cuba’s other ruling families, represents an emerging class of oligarchs.
“They enriched themselves by plundering the public treasury,” he said. “If this new and emerging social group resembles anything, it is Russian oligarchs, descendants of former leaders of the Russian Communist Party and their families.”
According to his critics, Rodríguez Castro is accustomed to the open exercise of power but lacks political mastery. His fame in the regime comes from controlling access to his 94-year-old grandfather.
“He is a great man who is used to the unrestrained use of power,” said Sebastián Arcos, a Cuban human rights activist and director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University. “It’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer.”
Now that the Castros’ grip on power was weakening, Cancer came to the fore.
Many Cubans believe the regime, slowly being strangled by a U.S. blockade of cheap oil from Venezuela, is closer to collapse than at any point in its 67-year history. It was revealed on Sunday (Washington time) that the United States planned to allow a Russian oil tanker to dock in Cuba, providing it with enough fuel to last for about a week, but Trump said “Cuba is done… it doesn’t matter if they get a boatload of oil.”
Protesters take to the streets, uncollected garbage piles up on street corners, and power outages regularly plunge the country into darkness for hours.
Moreover, Trump appeared more than willing to use American power in South America, sending special forces to capture Venezuelan leader Maduro from his Caracas compound in January. He says Cuba is “next.”
But Rubio is said to represent Rodríguez Castro, the younger, entrepreneurial class of Cubans who believe Communism has failed.
Cancer, Raúl Castro’s favorite grandson, also has the trust of the man who is considered the true leader of Cuba.
In March, Rodríguez Castro appeared at two public events alongside Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who was hand-picked by Raúl Castro and is widely seen as a figurehead.
It is unclear how the 41-year-old player found himself in the middle of talks that will determine the fate of Cuba.
Some believe this is because Raúl Castro put forward his grandson’s name as a reliable communication channel.
The detention of Jorge Javier Rodríguez, reportedly a friend of The Crab, by US immigration agents in July 2025 raised the possibility that he might have been used to deliver a message to his security chief.
A White House official told London: Telegram He said Cuba was “a failed nation whose rulers have suffered a major setback with the loss of support from Venezuela.”
“We are talking to Cuba, whose leaders want and need to make a deal,” the official said.
Venezuelan political analyst Joelvin Villarroel believes Rodríguez Castro can balance the demands of the current regime and the United States as the Trump administration seeks to turn Cuba into a “client state.”
“The Americans are aware that they have extensive influence and that the current geopolitical conditions will favor armed intervention,” he said. “Cubans will negotiate to survive such changes.”
Others are more skeptical. Cuban human rights activist José Daniel Ferrer, who was arrested dozens of times by the regime, was released from prison in October at the request of the United States and currently lives in exile in Miami.
When he met with Rubio in November, the secretary of state praised his “courage and resilience” in the face of pressure. Ferrer said to London: Telegram He said Rubio was “the best friend of the Cuban Democrat family.”
Citing reliable sources in the administration, he said the U.S. goal was to “eliminate the regime” and believed that would likely require a military intervention as Cuban leaders try to cling to power.
Arcos believes that Rodríguez Castro is merely a convenient communication channel for Raúl, who remains the ultimate authority on the island.
“He can’t be a Delcy Rodriguez,” he said. “He is unfit to be a transitional figure. He is not a politician. He is not even a technocrat. He is a thug.”
Rodriguez, who has been Venezuela’s president-elect since January, has been expertly walking the tightrope since coming to power.
He has managed to make overtures to Trump—the president speaks of him almost fondly in his monologues—and to keep aside other powerful Venezuelan families who would move against him if he appeared to be turning them into a vassal state.
But Venezuela is not the same as Cuba, where the ruling system is more hierarchical and opaque, making it difficult for Rubio to identify and groom a new leader.
Alonso noted that Rodríguez Castro had no official role in any of the island’s traditional power bases: historical leaders like Raúl Castro, public faces of the government like Díaz-Canel or Gaesa.
If Washington can use Rodríguez Castro to save Cuba from the clutches of communism, it would be a sweet victory after decades of defiance.
But if investing in Cancer fails and the regime proves recalcitrant, then another military intervention is on the horizon.
Telegraph, London
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