Sister of Cuban military conglomerate chief arrested in Florida, Rubio says

The sister of the head of a company that is accused of having close ties to Cuban government operations has been arrested in Miami, Florida, federal authorities announced Thursday.

Adys Lastres Morera, the sister of Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera — who is the executive president of Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., or GAESA — was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations agents in Miami, the agency said in a news release.

ICE said that Lastres Morera’s permanent residency status had been revoked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday.

In a social media post Thursday, Rubio said he revoked Lastres Morera’s green card because she “was managing real estate assets and living in Florida, while also aiding Havana’s communist regime.”

Rubio said that GAESA is a “Cuban military-controlled financial conglomerate that steals millions in aid for the Cuban people at the behest of the regime.”

Rubio has previously alleged GAESA has $18 billion in assets and controls 70% of the economy.

“They profit from hotels, construction, banks, stores and even from the money your relatives send you from the U.S. Everything, everything passes through their hands,” Rubio said Wednesday in a video recorded in Spanish that he said was directed at the Cuban people. “From those remittances, they retain a percentage, but from GAESA’s profits nothing reaches you.”

According to ICE, Lastres Morera entered the U.S. as a permanent resident on Jan. 13, 2023. But on Wednesday, it was determined she was eligible to be deported under Section 237 of the Immigration and Nationality Act because her continued presence in the U.S. undermined its “foreign policy objectives toward Cuba.” 

Section 237 of the INA outlines criteria under which foreign nationals can be deported. It is the same authority under which Rubio and the Trump administration are attempting to deport Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist who was arrested following his participation in pro-Palestinian protests.

Lastres Morera will remain in ICE custody as she awaits removal proceedings, ICE said. Neither Rubio nor ICE have said if Lastres Morera has been or will be charged with any crimes.  

The arrest comes one day after former Cuban leader Raúl Castro and five others were federally indicted in connection with the Cuban military’s fatal downing of two civilian planes in 1996 that killed four people.

The Trump administration has sought to put pressure on Cuba’s communist regime in recent months through tough sanctions and a blockade that have prevented oil and gas from reaching the island nation. That has prompted an energy crisis and several major blackouts. The U.S. recently offered Cuba $100 million in relief supplies, but said it must be distributed to the Cuban people through authorized charities. 

Last week, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana to meet with senior Cuban officials.