Havana/Jorge Javier Rodríguez Cabrera was arrested on Monday in Las Vegas for the United States immigration and customs control service (ICE). It is a former Cuban official with close links with the regime’s elite, particularly with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, The crabgrandson of General Raúl Castro and his personal bodyguard.
According to the information released By Mario J. Pentón, in Martí NewsRodríguez was put in the process of expedited deportation, which means that it could be returned to Cuba in a matter of days. His ex -wife and children already have permanent residence in the US, but he, after a year of low profile, reappeared with an entrepreneurship that has aroused suspicions.
Rodríguez arrived in the United States in 2022 by the southern border, accompanied by his wife and minor children, and asked for political asylum
The report published by the Cuban American media said that Rodríguez arrived in the United States in 2022 by the southern border, accompanied by his wife and minor children, and asked for political asylum. At first glance, it was a migrant more fleeing from the situation in Cuba. However, his diplomatic history told another story. He had worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the Diplomatic Mail section, and had been photographed alongside Raúl Castro and the Crab during the official visit of 2015 to New York. Another image of his circulated briefly on social networks in 2021, when he attended a baseball game in an American stadium. The closeness with the highest circles of Castroism was evident.
In November 2024, it founded large Blue LLC, a company registered in the Nevada state dedicated to door to door, logistics, tour packages to Cuba, sale of cars and food products. In the official documents he appears as the company manager, and the name of Marcel Blanco Fernández also appears. In a short time, great blue deployed an aggressive strategy of marketing and established a presence in key cities such as Miami, Orlando, Houston and Phoenix. In its social networks, the business is promoted as a quick and reliable solution for the Cubans of the diaspora who seek to help their families on the island. But behind that commercial facade, old bonds of power are hidden.
Rodríguez shared with ‘The Crab’ unthinkable luxuries for any Cuban on foot
Rodríguez was not only an intimate friend of El Cangrejo, but shared unthinkable luxuries to any Cuban on foot. In 2023, América labeled A video Where both appear sailing on a yacht, drinking and eating lobster, in the company of their respective partners. The scene was recorded during one of Raúl Castro’s frequent visits to foreign waters. In Cuba, access to private vessels is reserved for a few, and the images caused outrage among many emigrants.
Sources close to the former official explained that the friendship between Rodríguez and the Crab continued even after the relationship between their respective wives ended.
Despite its visibility, Rodríguez always avoided the press. He never responded to interview requests and, after his arrest, his Instagram account disappeared. The silence around the case has contributed to increasing concern about the true origin of the funds used to lift the company and on its eventual relationship with the structures of Cuban power.
Many of the shipping companies to the island function as business cover -ups linked to the regime
Experts on the subject have warned that many of the shipping companies to the island function as business cover -ups linked to the regime. The case of Tuambiarelated to the brother of former Deputy Prime Minister Jorge Luis Perdomo, it is just an example of how these ventures can disappear or transform after a change in the balance of power.
Rodríguez’s arrest raises the usual questions in those cases. Was it an attempt to insert itself into the American economy using Castro’s influence networks? Who supported your business? How many others, like him, are presented as exiles while they could be operating at the service of the interests of the regime?
