HAVANA TIMES – Last week I commented on Raul Castro’s grandson, Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, better known by his nickname “El Cangrejo” (The Crab).
I touched on what could happen after the arrest in the United States of a friend of his linked to door-to-door shipping, logistics, car sales, food, and tourism packages to Cuba—whose startup funds likely came from El Cangrejo.
I briefly mentioned his life of luxury and comfort, but this week another aspect has come to light that, in my view, is even more significant because it involves complicity from the US government: the travels of both him and several of his relatives to US soil using diplomatic passports.
Let’s start by clarifying that to hold a diplomatic passport—which in Cuba is blue—you must be a diplomat or a dependent family member, and by “dependent,” only minor children are meant.
Therefore, within the Castro family, only El Cangrejo would currently qualify, due to his position as Raul’s personal bodyguard, along with his young children. Not even his aunt Mariela Castro, despite being a government official, qualifies for this type of passport; hers would be red, intended for people on official work missions.
However, I’m talking about Mariela herself, the grandchildren Lisa and Paolo Titolo Castro, and Vilma Rodríguez Castro, El Cangrejo’s sister.
Documents reveal that under the pretense of attending meetings at the United Nations (UN), some of these visits lasted more than three weeks, far longer than needed for official activities.
Vilma Rodríguez Castro also made frequent trips to the United States between 2012 and 2016 using a diplomatic passport, with all expenses paid and official regime protection, according to official documents.
Marti Noticias reported that these trips were organized by Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) and sponsored by US cultural institutions. She attended art fairs and exhibitions in New York alongside her husband, artist Arles del Río, who also illegitimately benefited from regime privileges.
All of this not only dismantles the fable of the Castros’ austerity but—more worryingly—shows that the sanctions imposed by the US government on Cuban officials and their families are essentially meaningless in practice.
In the particular case of Castro’s granddaughter, she made at least five trips to New York with approval from MINREX and the support of US immigration authorities.
When she traveled in 2012, then-Cuban American Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Elliott Abrams issued strong criticisms. But rather than nipping the problem in the bud, the young woman continued traveling to the US as if nothing had happened.
In such cases, they leverage their kinship with Cuba’s top leadership to invoke “national security” reasons, which allows them to bypass regular immigration controls.
It’s worth noting that she did not attend an exhibit at Miami’s Art Basel fair in 2019 due to widespread rejection by the exile community.
According to US officials, the Trump administration did more than any other in US history to hold the Cuban regime accountable, in part by revoking visas and immigration status for regime officials, ex-officials, their families, and human rights violators in Cuba. But clearly, this is not enough.
In September 2020, the US government sanctioned Raul Castro’s four children for their close ties to the regime’s repressive apparatus and for the benefits they derived from the system.
However, none of the dictator’s grandchildren have been included on the sanctions lists of the US Treasury Department or the State Department—nor have Fidel Castro’s direct descendants, which is truly baffling.
The most that’s been done is to include the mansion rented out by El Cangrejo and his sister in the upscale Havana neighborhood of Miramar—listed on the Airbnb platform—on the list of entities off-limits to US citizens.
The leniency shown toward the Castro clan contrasts sharply with the strict visa policies applied to sporting events, for instance, which have prevented Cuban athletes from participating in international tournaments held in the US or Puerto Rico.
How is it possible that an athlete or coach can’t attend an event, while these individuals strut across US soil mocking the misery of their fellow citizens?
With complete impunity, the children and grandchildren of Cuba’s ruling elite travel, study, and conduct business abroad, taking advantage of official passports that should be reserved strictly for necessary diplomatic functions.
Cuban American congressmembers like María Elvira Salazar and Mario Díiz-Balart have called the situation “Castroism’s hypocrisy,” but they need to look inward and more forcefully demand immediate sanctions against regime family members who have benefited from diplomatic privileges.
As long as they—and many others who exploit their power—don’t feel the consequences of their actions firsthand, nothing will change.
What would hurt them most is precisely being unable to maintain their luxury lifestyles. But for now, they remain untouched.
These sanctions lists should include everyone from the handpicked president Miguel Díaz-Canel to the lowest-level public official directly or indirectly responsible for repressing the Cuban people—this includes officials at all levels, judges, and of course, the majority of the members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and the Ministry of the Interior (Minint).
Until all of these individuals are officially sanctioned, we will continue to see many of them calmly strolling the streets of none other than Miami—despite having blood on their hands.
