Cuesta Peraza’s publication comes more than a week after the devastating impact of the cyclone in the eastern region of Cuba.
LIMA, Peru – Lis Cuesta Peraza, wife of the Cuban ruler Miguel Diaz-Canelreappeared this Friday on social networks and spoke out for the first time after Hurricane Melissa passed through the Island.
“There is no hurricane stronger than the will of this people,” wrote Cuesta Peraza via X (formerly Twitter).
The publication of the “first lady” comes more than a week after the impact of the cyclone in the eastern region of Cuba, a meteorological event that left thousands of victims and infrastructural damage.
“The East once again demonstrated what we are: love, courage and Revolution,” highlighted Cuesta Peraza.
Cuesta Peraza, current Director of Events of the Ministry of Culture, was born on March 28, 1971 and studied at the Institute of Pedagogical Sciences of Holguín, where she completed a bachelor’s and a master’s degree.
Before his relationship with Díaz-Canel, he worked in the communication department of the Provincial Culture Sector, and later directed the Provincial Center for Books and Literature.
His visibility in the public sphere began when Díaz-Canel took office as first vice president of Cuba, but increased when he was named president. Since then, she has become a companion on international trips, an organizer of culinary events, doctor and defender of Castroism on social networks.
First Lady: Yes or no?
Last May, during an extensive interview granted to the official Alma Plus TV channelCuesta Peraza tried to project an image of a close, sensitive official committed to the values of the Cuban system, in a speech that repeated the traditional lines of the ruling party, without leaving room for self-criticism or recognition of the country’s structural problems.
The tone of the interview revolved around a sweetened vision of the Cuban system and its institutions. Cuesta praised the Revolution, the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) and figures from the ruling party such as Vilma Espín, Celia Sánchez and Mariela Castro. She also reaffirmed her militancy: “For Cubans who are feminists and federated (…) today we have battles to win, but we are handling them well.”
Although she rejected the title of “first lady” because she considered it a “patriarchal” and “bourgeois structure,” Cuesta Peraza defined herself as a “companion” of Díaz-Canel: “It has been difficult, I think one of the most difficult things that I have had to do in my life is to accompany my husband at this moment.” About him, he stated: “He is a very ethical, very noble man, who deeply loves the Cuban people.”
Although Cuesta Peraza recognized that being a woman and exercising managerial functions in Cuba “continues to be a challenge,” she did not admit institutional limitations, but only practical and personal difficulties. He did not mention the restrictions suffered by thousands of Cuban women outside the circles of power.
The official opted to exalt the system and the role it had to play, without recognizing cracks or assuming errors. In the midst of an unprecedented national crisis, his speech evaded any institutional responsibility and reiterated, once again, that in the story of Cuban power, the guilty are always outside.
