Cubans know the symbolic weight of the Castro surname and as if it went without saying, their bearers were called Fidel and Raúl. A lineage is not built only with first names, and that is why, when the historical leader is no longer here and his brother appears to be 95 years old, saying Castro out loud again has relevant political implications, although sometimes it requires clarification. Sandro Castro, Fidel’s nephew and son of engineer Alexis Castro and Rebecca Arteaga, is a good living who makes known through social networks the benefits of belonging to the family. He likes the night and beer. Above all, be seen. Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro It is quite the opposite: grandfather Raúl has elevated him and, with his low profile but resounding rise, since the beginning of the year he has become a an important piece of the conflict between the island and the United States for his role as secret interlocutor of the envoys of the North American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and of the head of the CIA himself, John Ratcliffe, during his recent visit to Havana.
It is known as “the Crab”due to the malformation of a finger on one hand. Crustaceans have five pairs of legs and can inhabit different marine ecosystems. Raúl grandson has also done it, going from the military world to the business world, and it is that double condition that gave another luster to the surname.
At first it was a silent and lateral figure: that of the corpulent man who watch grandpa general’s back. Circumspect face and look that announces the willingness to do what is necessary for its preservation. “His private life is barely known, except for several leaked photos and videos in which he is seen enjoying a yacht trip, gargantuan meals, and musical entertainment on the island,” the magazine noted some time ago. The sneeze.
The eldest of Raúl’s grandchildren, Raúl himself, is 41 years old, experienced in business and intelligence matters, a skill that did not come from nowhere. The most powerful man on the island, who is none other than the father of his mother, Deborah Castro Espin, promoted him 10 years ago to lieutenant colonel of the Ministry of the Interior. With that position he acquired the discreet visibility of the bodyguards: always at the general’s side, especially during the last years of his presidency.
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And although being a Castro means benefiting from ancestry, in the case of the man they call “the Crab” he has enjoyed an expanded genealogy. Because in addition to being the grandson of who he is, the lieutenant colonel turned colonel is the son of the late general Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja. And there another surname comes into play, that of the soldier who managed the Business Administration Group SA (GAESA) until his death, in July 2022. GAESA is an autonomous power in the structure of post-Castroism, and hence the emphasis with which Rubio attributed to it a determining responsibility in the problems that the island is going through. The Secretary of State, son of Cubans who settled in Miami before 1959, unleashed harsher words against that conglomerate than those directed at the Government. GAESA handles hotels, finance, transactions and other services that add up, according to experts, to 70% of the economy. of the largest of the Antilles. Its opacity has been justified: a way to preserve itself against US sanctions. The explanation usually overlooks the fact that the members of the conglomerate and their families are seen by ordinary Cubans as an upper caste.
They say that the economic strength of this group would not have been possible without the participation of López-Calleja. His father-in-law, the general, considered him a business ace. The “Crab” can, therefore, invoke the legacy of blood and, at the same time, the practical learning of business administration. Now, when the eyes of many analysts are on Rodríguez Castro, relationships with the conglomerate are coming to light that could be deeper and more articulate than previously thought.
In these hours of collective uncertainty, when a society in the dark is not able to imagine what will happen the next day, the grandson stomps on the Cuban-American chess board. There were those who imagined him in a place similar to that of Delcy Rodríguez in Venezuela. They overlooked that, above all, “el Cangrejo” is a Castro and, furthermore, a González Calleja. Talk behind the scenes with the Americans representing the island but also GAESA.
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