Díaz-Canel's Silence at Rally for Raúl Castro Raises Eyebrows

On Friday, Miguel Díaz-Canel made an appearance at the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribune in Havana donning a green olive combat uniform. However, he did not deliver a speech to the attendees of the large-scale political rally that was organized to support Raúl Castro.

This event followed the criminal charges filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against the former dictator.

The only political leader to speak was Gerardo Hernández, the national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. He shared a brief message from Raúl Castro with the crowd gathered along the Malecón in Havana.

Díaz-Canel's decision not to speak was surprising, as it deviated from a previously established pattern. In all recent political events held at that location, the leader has typically addressed the audience.

In January 2026, when the regime organized an urgent rally after Nicolás Maduro's arrest, Díaz-Canel delivered a fiery speech at the same tribune, denouncing the operation as "cowardly, criminal state terrorism."

On May 1, 2026, he also spoke from that platform, asserting that "if Cuba is attacked, there will be a fight." Yet, at this rally, specifically organized to defend someone he calls his "mentor," he chose to remain silent.

Díaz-Canel did announce his presence on the social network X with the message: "For Cuba and for Raúl, we are at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune. Raúl is Raúl."

The day before, he had heightened his rhetoric on the same platform, posting: "The Army General is Cuba and Cuba is respected," and "Heroes of the Homeland are not disrespected, history and traditions are not insulted without a response. Not in Cuba."

The choice to wear the olive green uniform carries symbolic weight, tied to revolutionary power since 1959, and Díaz-Canel had previously worn it during past crises, such as Hurricane Melissa in October 2025.

The event was marked by another notable absence: that of the honoree himself.

Raúl Castro did not attend the rally organized in his honor, prompting a wave of mockery on social media. "And the honoree didn't attend his own event?" quipped a Cuban user. "Raúl is hiding in his cave!" wrote another. "There's more olive green than people; no one supports this," observed a third.

The regime mobilized military personnel, police, and workers to bolster attendance, which was called for by the Union of Young Communists and other mass organizations.

The charges that prompted the rally were filed on May 20—Cuba's Independence Day—at the Freedom Tower in Miami. They include conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens and four individual counts of homicide for the shooting down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes over international waters on February 24, 1996, which resulted in the deaths of Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario Manuel de la Peña, and Pablo Morales.

Raúl Castro's health, with his 95th birthday approaching on June 3, remains a constant underlying concern. Díaz-Canel himself described him in April as "frail due to his advanced age," and in March 2026, he also did not attend the 9th Congress of the Communist Party.

His last public appearance was on May 1 at the same tribune, noticeably aged, three weeks before the regime called for a massive rally in his honor, which he neither could nor chose to attend.