Havana — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday defended the Trump administration’s decision Imposing new sanctions on Cubathe largest of which is against the Grupo de Administración Empresarial SA, a business group run by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.
In addition to GAESA and its president, the sanctions announced Thursday include Moa Nickel, a Cuban joint venture with Canada’s Sherritt International, which immediately announced it would withdraw from the business, ending a 32-year presence on the island.
Lee Schlenker, a research associate at the Quincy Institute’s Global South Program, a Washington think tank, explained that the May 1 executive order and the new designations announced May 7 significantly expand the legal authority with which the U.S. government can impose sanctions on third-country nationals and companies.
“It’s not just their assets that are frozen, but their US accounts as well as their travel to the United States, or the accounts of shareholders, investors or employees,” Schlenker said. “This is bound to have a very significant impact on the presence of foreign companies” in Cuba.
Economist Pavel Vidal, a Cuban expert at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia, told The Associated Press that the measures are “extremely worrying” for an economy that is already “practically paralyzed.” The United States has blocked fuel shipments to Cuba since January, exacerbating the island’s years-long economic crisis. Vidal noted that the new sanctions would likely deter GAESA’s remaining partners, saying that “very few would risk challenging them.”
Vidal said the new measures amounted to “total isolation”, driven by the fear they had instilled in banks, insurance companies and international companies.
As an expert who analyzed GAESA’s internal documents, Vidal noted that the bloc’s deep access to almost every sector of the Cuban economy makes any contact with the island a potential liability under the new US rules.
According to Vidal, GAESA controls approximately 40% of Cuba’s GDP. As of early 2024, the group had $14.5 billion in liquid reserves, with annual revenues three times the size of the entire Cuban state budget.
Founded in the 1990s under military control, GAESA served as the Cuban Armed Forces’ strategic response to the economic collapse that followed the fall of the Soviet Union and the tightening of US sanctions imposed at the time.
Despite being state-owned, GAESA accounts are exempt from audits conducted by the Office of the Comptroller General. Gladys Bejerano, the entity’s director, acknowledged this lack of oversight in a 2024 interview; Shortly afterwards she retired.
For years, until his death in July 2022, Luis Alberto Rodríguez López Calleja served as Director General of GAESA. As a son-in-law Former President Raul CastroHe was a pillar of the family – a legacy continued by his son, Raul Guillermo Rodríguez Castro. While the younger Castro officially serves as his grandfather’s main bodyguard, he has recently emerged as a pivotal mediator in… Sensitive talks with the United States
This week, the sanctions also added Anya Guillermina Lastres to the US blacklist. As López Calleja’s successor, she currently serves as CEO of GAESA, where she oversees the group’s broad international financial interests.
Based on the limited information available, GAESA oversees dozens of retail outlets – selling everything from food and clothing to household appliances – as well as a sprawling service network that includes car rentals and travel agencies. Notably, it also manages Cuban financial institutions, currency exchange offices, and administration Major hotels in the country.
In comments to the press on Friday, Rubio said the sanctions were not imposed on the Cuban people, and referred to GAESA as a company that “takes anything that makes money in Cuba and illegally puts it in the pockets of a few regime insiders.”
Cuban authorities assert that the sanctions constitute “collective punishment” aimed at stifling the island’s economy, arguing that the Trump administration’s policies show a disregard for the well-being of the Cuban people in favor of political influence.
The new sanctions imposed on Havana come under the pressure of A American energy blockade This caused widespread water and electricity outages, along with severe gas and water shortages.
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