Sister of high-ranking Cuba conglomerate official arrested by ICE in Miami

The sister of a high-ranking Cuban official is now in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody after she was arrested in Miami on Thursday, the latest move in an escalating pressure campaign against Cuba’s ruling party and its leaders.

A photo released by ICE Homeland Security Investigations shows Adys Lastres Morera being taken away in Miami, with HSI calling her “a deportable lawful permanent resident whose presence poses a threat to the United States and undermines American foreign policy interests.”

Her sister, Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, is the executive president of GAESA, a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.

“They have a private military company named Gaesa who’s sitting on $18 billion of assets, and not a penny of that transfers over to the state budget. Not a penny of that goes over to help the people of Cuba. Not one cent,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

Gaesa is a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, and it’s even more powerful than the island’s communist party.

GAESA controls hotels, gas stations, supermarkets, currency exchange, marinas, real estate and many more entities on the island.

U.S. officials estimate that GAESA, which is a private company, controls 40% or more of Cuba’s economy.

“GAESA wields such immense power that the Cuban government, the government led by Miguel Díaz-Canel, Manuel Marrero, and others, must ask GAESA for the resources needed to manage the country. And GAESA provides them if it so chooses,” said investigative journalist Mario Penton of Marti Noticias, who focuses on covering Cuba.

In March, Marti Noticias published a report detailing Adys Lastres Morera’s alleged association with investment companies.

“Something that strikes us as particularly noteworthy is that Adys Lastres Morera arrived in the United States in 2023, having been petitioned by her son, U.S. citizen Ernesto Carvajal Lastres,” Penton said. “And immediately thereafter, her name appeared associated as a manager at Santa Elena Investments and Remas Investments, companies dedicated to real estate investments in Florida.”

Penton said shortly after his report became public, everything related to those real estate investment companies was wiped from the internet.

Rubio said he terminated Adys Lastres Morera’s permanent resident status, posting to X, “There will be nowhere on this earth, much less in our country – where foreign nationals who threaten our national security can live lavishly.”

Adys Lastres Morera’s son said over the phone Thursday that he’s in crisis mode, trying to figure out where his mom is and why she was detained.

“I am not entirely clear on how Marco Rubio can have the authority to revoke residency without going through a court process,” he said.

Adys Lastres Morera’s son said he’s a U.S. citizen and has been living in the U.S. for 12 years. He’s currently looking for an attorney who can take his mother’s case.