James Bond and Blonde star Ana de Armas has limited comments on Instagram after receiving huge backlash for her romance with the Cuban president’s stepson.
The Cuban actress, 36, is devastated by her compatriots and others who accuse her of having a relationship with the son of a dictatorship she fled.
Ana was pictured taking a romantic walk in Madrid with 26-year-old Manuel Anido Cuesta, the stepson of Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who was handpicked by Raul Castro and ‘elected’ in elections in which no opposition challengers were allowed.
Diaz Canel has overseen the collapse of the Cuban economy and continued the Castro Doctrine that does not allow opposition parties or protests against the ruling party. Like the Castros before him, he is accused of overseeing widespread human rights abuses.
That’s him Cuba’s first leader in sixty years without the nickname Castro, after Raúl Castro semi-retired after his term as president. He had taken over in 2016 from his brother, Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.
The Knives Out star, who left Cuba for Spain at the age of 18, previously dated Tinder vice-president Paul Boukadakis.
Ana de Armas, 36, has limited her comments on Instagram as she faces huge backlash over her romance with 25-year-old Manuel Anido Cuesta, the Cuban president’s stepson
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Another said: ‘ana de armas is dating the stepson of the tyrant who runs the dictatorship she ran away from? so bad, this is bad, this is very bad.’
Agustin Antonetti wrote: ‘These statues should travel around the world, people should have no mercy.
‘Famous actress Ana de Armas was photographed in Madrid with Cuban genocidal Manuel Anido Cuesta, stepson of dictator Díaz Canel and possible successor.
‘They are a couple. Murderers. Enjoy Madrid as if nothing has happened.’
Anido Cuesta, a lawyer, is the son of Diaz Canel’s wife Lis Cuesta from a previous relationship.
He is a close adviser to the authoritarian leader and is often seen at official events and trips with him, including to the Vatican and the UAE.
Anido Cuesta is accused of living a luxurious lifestyle abroad while the majority of Cubans on the island live in poverty.
Anido Cuesta, is seen on an official trip with a Cuban delegation in Dubai with the CEO of Dubai Multi Commodities Center Ahmed Sultan Bin Sulayem
Ana’s own brother, photographer Javier Caso, is an activist against the Cuban regime. In 2020, he was questioned on the island for his connections to opposition artists and activists.
In 2021, Caso was part of a hunger strike with artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara against what they called a dictatorship in Cuba.
Cuba is currently going through another ‘special period’ and is facing one of the worst economic and energy crises in its history.
In addition to waves of power outages, citizens are frustrated about food shortages and inflation. Hundreds of thousands have migrated, many leaving for the United States.
Large-scale power outages last month left ten million people – already reeling from a deepening economic crisis – without electricity for days.
The Cuban government has faced simmering frustrations and rare protests after sharply raising gas prices, further straining the wallets of Cubans who struggle to afford the most basic food items such as eggs and chicken.
He is a close advisor to the authoritarian leader and is often seen at official events and trips with him, including last year to the Vatican, pictured above
Diaz Canel, left, is seen with his wife and stepson (behind her) in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 2019
Like the Castros before him, Diaz Canel is accused of overseeing widespread human rights abuses. Diaz Canel and Raul Castro are pictured
The Cuban government blames the U.S. economic embargo for its woes, but Cuba’s power grid is in disrepair and the government has long failed to invest in alternative energies such as solar, despite an abundance of sunshine.
As a result, Cuba’s main energy sources have been fossil fuels. The country was for a long time dependent on its regional ally Venezuela, until aid disappeared when the oil-rich country fell into crisis.
In recent years, Cuba has leaned on Russia, which sent hundreds of millions of dollars in fuel just two years ago. That has helped alleviate a massive shortfall in Cuba’s supplies while easing the weight of international sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.