Cuban Woman Who Praised Díaz-Canel on State TV Owns Private Clinic in France

Lucía Céspedes Ocampo, the Cuban woman who recently appeared on Cuba's National Television News praising Miguel Díaz-Canel during his visit to the La Timba neighborhood in Havana, revealed in a video this Sunday that she owns a private clinic in France. From there, she declares her support for socialism, communism, and Fidel.

This revelation stirred immediate controversy due to the contradiction it presents: a public advocate of the Cuban regime practicing private medicine in capitalist France while extolling the virtues of communism.

Céspedes's Justification for Her Private Clinic

In the video, Céspedes attempts to explain this paradox by stating, "Why do I have a private clinic in France, a great sin for a communist? Because I realized that as my own boss, whether in France or elsewhere, I could practice a more humane form of medicine than I could from an establishment where interests other than those of a doctor prevail."

Based in Guadeloupe, a French overseas department, Céspedes claims she practices medicine with a "Cuban heart," learned during her six-month medical training in Cuba. She then, without appearing entirely convinced, declared, "From my private clinic, wherever it may be, I shout, long live socialism, long live communism, long live the Cuban revolution, and long live Fidel and all those striving for a better world."

The "Humane Medicine" Argument

Céspedes's argument raises several uncomfortable questions. By presenting her private clinic as a space where she can practice "more humane medicine," the cardiologist implies, without explicitly stating it, that the French healthcare system—where she thrives—is less humane or driven by interests unrelated to patient welfare.

However, France's healthcare is not a jungle of profit-driven private clinics. The system combines public hospitals, private clinics, mandatory insurance, state regulations, and patient choice freedom. Official French data from 2024 show 2,962 hospitals and clinics, 367,100 full hospitalization beds, and 91,000 partial hospitalization spots, with public hospital services guaranteed even for the most vulnerable in emergencies.

The comparison with Cuba is even more telling. According to the OECD, all of France's population is covered for basic services, 84% of healthcare spending is covered by mandatory schemes, and the country spends $7,367 PPP per capita on health, above the OECD average. In contrast, Cuba's deteriorating system forces patients and families to seek medicines, appointments, transportation, and basic supplies outside state institutions.

Céspedes's Controversial Stance

Human Rights Watch documented nearly empty pharmacies and resource-scarce hospitals in Cuba in 2026, with patients needing to bring their own sheets, pillows, fans, or medical supplies. CiberCuba reported Díaz-Canel admitting resource shortages for operating rooms and thousands awaiting surgeries, cancer treatments, prenatal ultrasounds, and immunizations.

Her claim of learning this so-called "Cuban-hearted" medicine in just six months raises a fundamental question: where did she complete her medical training, and under what system did she obtain the credentials to practice as a specialist in France? What she touts as a lesson from Cuban socialism seems to rely on the professional, legal, and economic guarantees of a capitalist country with a public, regulated, high-coverage healthcare system.

A Propagandist in Capitalist Reality

Céspedes is registered as a cardiologist in the French healthcare system with RPPS number 10100518124, operating in Sainte-Rose, Guadeloupe. Her practice as a liberal medical specialist—equivalent to independent private practice—has been registered since January 16, 2016, according to Société.com.

In the same video, Céspedes asserted that "very soon," Cubans will have "the same as in a capitalist country, but with a more equitable distribution of wealth," attributing the country's problems to the U.S. embargo, which she claims "will end."

This isn't the first time the cardiologist has been at the center of controversy for defending Cuban socialism from abroad. In April, she went viral from Tenerife, shouting "Long live Cuba, long live my president Díaz-Canel" and insulting exiles as "traitors, crawling worms, bomb throwers, and Yankee bootlickers." In June, she defended the 176 economic transformation measures approved by the regime.

On September 25, Céspedes reappeared on the National News during Díaz-Canel's visit to La Timba, declaring on camera, "Thank you for what you are doing. I live in France, in Guadeloupe." The state media presented her only as a "young Cuban residing abroad," without mentioning her name or her ownership of a capitalist private clinic.

Critics point out multiple contradictions: Céspedes supports communism while practicing private medicine in a capitalist system, insults the "worm exile" while living outside Cuba, and from Tenerife, organized the shipment of rice, beans, and hygiene products to Cuban elders, implicitly acknowledging the state's inability to provide basics to its people.

All of this occurs as Cuba faces its worst economic crisis in decades: inflation hit 31.9% in the first quarter of 2026, the peso devalued to 685 per dollar, and CEPAL projects a 6.5% GDP decline this year, potentially making the island Latin America's worst-performing economy for the second consecutive year.