Use of Cuba's Image by opponents of The Revolution: usurpation or legitimacy?

Abstract

In the era of cultural globalization and digital hyperconnectivity, a country's image transcends physical borders to become a strategic asset of soft power and national security. This study reveals how, between 2015-2025, organizations and individuals abroad have transformed Cuba´s country-image into a globally contested sign, representing it without official endorsement across culture, sports, media, and commercial brands, generating unprecedented tensions over Cuban state symbolic sovereignty. Key migrations actors, cultural collectives, political influencers, transnational corporations, are identified as projecting alternative Cuban narratives, from commercial exoticism to political critique. Mass sports exodus, unauthorized beauty pageants, and the legal battle exemplify how the national image fragments into competing global legitimacies. The analysis demonstrates profound impacts on Cuba's country image, symbolic security, and cultural diplomacy, inviting reflection on sovereignty limits in a world where national identities are negotiated in cultural marketplaces and digital platforms. At the time, it does questions as how to protect a nation's essence when its image circulates freely.