Phone refills, beer, tequila and coal: the Castro family’s international business and Cuba’s power leadership

Raul and Fidel Castro (Reuters/File)

Investigation by Cuban engineers Norges Rodriguezmedia founder YucaByte and in exile since 2016, along with journalists Cynthia de la Canterarevealed Castro family international business network and Cuban power leadership. His own two grandchildren Fidel Castro They are in the plot.

The activities of these companies are very diverse phone recharged until BeerHe Tequila and even charcoal. Besides that, It has branches in the United States, Mexico, Panama, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland.

In dialogue with Infobae, Rodríguez explained what this network consists of and what its scope is. “This investigation is in collaboration with the Venezuelan portal ArmandoInfowe started it because we had done things before about what the Cuban regime accepted phone recharged“, started.

“They (the regime), in 2013, started offering services for exiles to pay for cell phones for people who were in Cuba. So you’re in Miami, for example, and you want your family members to communicate and, through a company authorized by Cuba’s telecommunications monopoly, ETECSA, they force you to put 20 dollars, 100 dollars or whatever you want into your relative’s phone in Cuba so we can communicate,” he explained.

“So we started investigating. Any company that gives permission that from outside they will collect the money and this is what is important: We realized that the amount they received for this concept was millionaires. We talked about that, once upon a time, it was 1.6 billion dollars a year for refills and telecommunications-related services. “This is where we take on the task of investigating who the people are behind these companies,” Rodríguez told this media.

Asked about this, he explained that, after a while, They found members of the Castro family. “That’s where the alarm goes off and we said, ‘This is more than just a refill business.’ “This is a more interesting story,” he stressed.

Marco Amorós Moreno, Sol beer ambassador, is a close friend of Sandro Castro, Fidel Castro's grandson (Instagram/YucaByte)
Marco Amorós Moreno, Sol beer ambassador, is a close friend of Sandro Castro, Fidel Castro’s grandson (Instagram/YucaByte)

“When we found this member of the Castro family, his name Hector Castro Santanawho is one of the main people in this investigation, we are aware of that the business is even broaderwhich not only includes refillablethat there are businesses importing drinks to Cuba: beer, tequila, various kinds of drinks… But there is also a Cuban charcoal export business to Europe and there is one of them Cuban exports of tropical fruits towards the Old Continent,” he explained.

He then shows that he found it two grandchildren of Fidel Castro in this multi-million dollar activity. “One is Sandro Castro Arteaga, which has some super exclusive bars in Havana. Beer is sold and promoted at its bar. Someone very close to him called Marcos Amoros, recently registered in Cuba with something that they now allow, which is that private companies can be registered, in quotes, but the majority of those companies, at least the most successful ones, are owned by members of the leadership. This person has registered a company also in the name Dibermex in Cuba, which shares its name with others based in Mexico and Panama which are also called that. So, this is the connection to Castro.”

While consulting with Fidel’s other grandchildren, Rodríguez explained Infobae: “Called Antonio Castro Ulloa. It is a model and is connected to the network through it stepfather. “This means that the husband, the mother’s partner, also appears to be connected to this network,” he said.

Yaino del Castillo Barbosa is the partner of Liset Ulloa Díaz, mother of Antonio Castro Ulloa, grandson of Fidel Castro (Facebook/YucaByte)
Yaino del Castillo Barbosa is the partner of Liset Ulloa Díaz, mother of Antonio Castro Ulloa, grandson of Fidel Castro (Facebook/YucaByte)

“This is how we realized that this story was more than just a refill,” he emphasized; while he noted: “This is the story of how the descendants of the Castro family became connected to the corporate network which goes through Mexico, Panama, the United States… And many of these companies are in South Florida, in Miami, where most of the exile community lives. In addition, there is a company in Spain where the law firm is located. Hector Castro SantanaWhat grandson of older brothers Raúl and Fidel Castro. Mr. Héctor also owns a company in England that is connected to this network. “And in Switzerland there is also a company,” he said.

“As you can see, It is a network that moves through several countries. We come to all this without realizing it. “That is, we did not investigate the family directly, we investigated other things related to Cuba, telecommunications, and we found that the family was involved,” he concluded.

Norges Rodríguez directs YucaByte, a media founded in 2018 and dedicated to issues related to technology and what is happening on the island with the Internet. He is a telecommunications and electronics engineer, and has lived in the United States since 2016. He settled in Miami in 2020.

Roderick Gilbert

"Entrepreneur. Internet fanatic. Certified zombie scholar. Friendly troublemaker. Bacon expert."

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