Sandro Castro said most ‘Cubans want to be capitalist, not communist’ amid worsening power outages and an economic crisis
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenTribune News ServicePublished: 1:23pm, 1 Apr 2026Updated: 1:29pm, 1 Apr 2026Amid 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.”
