Madrid/“Have the successive governments of the Republic of Cuba lied to their creditors? Does the Diaz-Canel-Valdés Mesa Administration (2018-) control the resources of Gaesa?” These are two of the issues raised by the United States and Commercial Council-Cuba (US-Cuba Trade) from the report published on August 6 by The Miami Herald About him Business Administration Groupcontrolled by the military, which demonstrated how the almighty conglomerate operates outside the general control and without paying taxes.
In a statement published on Monday, US-Cuba Trade points out that specialists “who consider Gaesa’s financial statements genuine Herald “They have questions”, among them if these documents are “illustrative of a complex and necessary commercial structure” or if what they demonstrate is “a pathological determination to deceive, disguise the value and avoid paying what the Government of the Republic of Cuba and the companies operated by it owe to governments and companies.”
The Council mentions, specifically, two of the main foreign firms installed on the island: the Canadian Minera Sherritt International and the Spanish hotel Meliáwhose shareholders, adventure, “have questions.” In this regard, the text recalls that Sherritt reports accounts receivable around 100 million dollars of Cuban state entities.
In this regard, the text recalls that Sherritt reports accounts receivable around 100 million dollars of Cuban state entities
As for Meliá, he refers to the fall in his reservations in Cuba –927 rooms less between January 1 to June 30 of this year compared to the previous year– and the 33 establishments he manages. The maintenance of these, which are owned by state companies, continue, “continue with delays and the quality of the service remains poor.”
Last June, the employers’ organization of national work, which brings together businessmen in Catalonia, denounced the debt of more than 350 million euros (406.5 million dollars) that maintains the island with some 300 companies. 15% of them, recriminated, are in a “critical” financial situation or have had to close.
Hence they consider whether taxpayers in Spain will have no doubts about the “Debt conversion program” Agree in 2016 and whose second part, worth 375 million euros, this July was announced.
US-Cuba Trade recalls that, according to the documents used as a source by The Miami Heraldin March 2024 GAESA had 14,467 million dollars deposited in unidentified financial institutions, which represents approximately 76% of its liquidity, while reporting net profits for the first quarter of 2024 of about 2.1 billion (compared to 7.2 billion during the first eight months of 2023).
Most of this figure, detailed the HeraldI came from Cimex, considered the most profitable company in the conglomerate, which reported profits for 1.2 billion dollars until last March, on a total income of 3.4 billion in that period. However, the balances corresponding to 2024 did not include Cimex financial information.
According to the newspaper Miamense, this could be due to the “cyber attack” wielded by the regime, at the end of January of that year, days before the arrest of the then Minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil, and that paralyzed his systems.
The media warned that there was the possibility that the military “have simply transferred the missing dollars abroad or have used them to finance other investments without the records.” However, it considered that the collapse of tourism on the island represents a plausible explanation to at least a part of the losses reported by the seagull.
“What is true?” Asks US-Cuba Trade, pointing out that “the credibility of the statements” of Cuban officials is questioned. “Executives, owners and shareholders of companies that usually grant companies of the Government of the Republic of Cuba payment terms of 180, 360 and more days, now have more questions than usual about debts.”
“Executives, owners and shareholders of companies that usually grant the companies of the Government of the Republic of Cuba payment deadlines of 180, 360 and more days, now they have more questions than usual about debts”
In its publication, the Council includes several relevant data, one of them, which since December 2001 exporters of American agricultural and food products have received, “through cash advance”, as required by the laws of embargo on the island, approximately 8,000 million US dollars by Cuban state entities. The US agricultural and food exports, also recalls US-Cuba Trade, increased by 10% in May 2025.
Meanwhile, the institution reiterates, the Cuban regime “has not complied with the agreed payments, which amount to billions of dollars, despite the repeated reprogramming of debt, including with Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, Russia and Vietnam.”
Thus, they owe “hundreds of millions of dollars” to companies not based on the island, and Cuban state firms “are still looking for discounts and reprogramming in payments.”
In this regard, the Western Hemisphere’s Office of the US Department of State Pin Turks have had to be withdrawn by Havana’s defaults. “The Cuban regime is losing one of its last reliable sources of electricity due to its poor management of the economy. Its officials have stolen so much that the regime and not pay its accounts. Investors and suppliers around the world should take note. In the end, it is the Cuban people who pay the true price of the criminal ineptitude of the regime, supporting even more hours daily without electricity,” they have written.
