The Administration has further increased the pressure against the economic apparatus of the Cuban regime with an arrest loaded with political symbolism.
The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Administration (ICE) announced this Thursday the arrest of Cuban citizen Adys Lastres Morera, sister of a senior executive of the Gaesa military conglomerate, after revoking her permanent residence in the United States.
Washington accuses Lastres Morera of collaborating with the Havana regime and representing “a threat to national security.”
was especially harsh when announcing the operation.
“Morera was managing real estate assets and living in Florida while helping the communist regime in Havana”wrote in X.
“There will be no place where they can live in luxury”
Rubio, one of the most aggressive figures of the Trump Administration against Cuba and of Cuban descent, also assured that the detainee is already in ICE custody.
And he sent a particularly forceful message aimed at those around the Cuban regime.
“There will be no place on this planet – much less in our country – where foreign citizens who threaten our national security can live in luxury,” he said.
US authorities maintain that Adys’ sister, Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, is one of Gaesa’s top executive officers.
What is Gaesa and why the US has it in its sights
Gaesa is the gigantic business conglomerate controlled by the Cuban Armed Forces and considered by Washington as one of the great economic pillars of the regime.
According to the United States, the group controls about 70% of the island’s economy through strategic sectors such as tourism, real estate, ports, commerce or finance.
The Trump Administration formally sanctioned this month both Gaesa and several of its leaders, in addition to the mining company Moa Nickel, in a new economic offensive against Cuba.
The arrest of Lastres Morera It is now interpreted as a new step within that strategy.
ICE talks about links with the Cuban military apparatus
In a statement, ICE assured that the detainee “benefited from links with the Cuban economic-military apparatus” while residing in the US as a permanent resident.
For now, US authorities have not detailed possible additional criminal charges against him.
The operation also comes at a time of maximum political tension between Washington and Havana.
The accusation against Raúl Castro triggers even more tension
The arrest comes just one day after the United States formally accused the former Cuban president. Raúl Castro of assassinationconspiracy to kill American citizens and destruction of aircraft due to the downing of Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996.
All of this is part of an increasingly aggressive escalation by the Trump Administration against the Cuban regime, in the midst of the US president’s constant statements suggesting a possible extreme hardening of policy towards the island.
And now that pressure no longer only affects the Cuban Government.
It is also beginning to directly reach family members and people linked to the economic core of power in Havana.
