Powerful Cuban General Punished by USA
HAVANA TIMES – The United States Department of the Treasury imposed new economic sanctions against a top Cuban general on Wednesday. The move is part of the pressure campaign carried out by the Trump Administration against the Castro – Diaz Canel government, Europa Press reported.
The US Government singled out General Luis Alberto Rodriguez, head of the most important military business conglomerate in Cuba. His name adds to the list of Cubans sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Treasury Department.
Rodriguez, head of Grupo de Administración Empresarial SA (GAESA), is a former son-in-law of Communist Party leader Raul Castro. Washington justified the sanction saying the general acted “against the peoples of Cuba and Venezuela.”
US committment or the Trump reelection campaign?
The measure includes the freezing of his assets under US jurisdiction, although there is no information if such assets exist. Moreover, he cannot carry out transactions involving individuals and entities of the US.
“Today’s actions demonstrate the great commitment of the United States to end economic practices that disproportionately benefit the Cuban Government or its Army, its intelligence, its security agencies or its personnel at the expense of the Cuban people,” said the Treasury in a statement.
In this sense, the text ensures continued US “support for the Cuban people in their desire to achieve a democratic government and respect for Human Rights, including freedom of religion, expression and association.”
Most political observers believe the Trump administration’s main interest in Cubans is about Cuban-American votes in Florida. The State is considered crucial for the president’s reelection campaign.
Nonetheless, the US Treasury stated: “Until these rights and freedoms are respected, we will hold the regime responsible for its actions.”
Humour is one of the better aspects of humanity. But to joke about porridge – to a Scot? Not nice!
Ha H Haaaahh!
Mr MacD, It was a genuine typo. I shall leave nom de plumes for those crustier than I……
And I wish you good luck in your quest to have porridge for breakfast made with genuine Cuban grown oats…….
Not much wonder I recognized a similarity of style! On the subject of chicken Nick, the difficulty for Cuba is the lack of cereals to feed them. if only they had the gumption to employ a knowledgeable supervisor to grow cereals on those hundreds of thousands of acres lying fallow, they could even grow oats to enable an ancient crusty old Scot to have porridge for breakfast – if only he could get some milk!
But as ‘Nice’ would say, “ain’t possible, ‘cos they r’ too stoopid ! Do we assume that you have abandoned your nom-de-plume for good?
Apologies for the strange typo.
e and k are not even anything like being neighbours on my keyboard!!
I am kinda nice but my name is actually Nick.
I hope that Cuba can work towards producing its own chicken.
And I hope that the USA can work towards one day potentially producing a Republican President without the continued systemic reliance on voter suppression.
‘Nice’. if you had cared to read my contributions to HT over the years and/or you read ‘Cuba Lifting the Veil’, where the chapter upon the US commences: “US policies towards the Latin American countries have been a succession of political blunders of magnitude since the adoption of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823” you would know that my criticisms of the US in relation to Cuba are frequent and constant.
You demonstrate that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
One notes with interest your adoption of Nick’s opinion regarding US chicken and the similarity of phraseology: “Lil ol trump” “it ain’t useless” “those guys”.
My concerns are for the future of the Cuban people who currently suffer under the dictate of the extreme left. I hope that they may yet experience the freedoms which despite any faults, are commonplace in the capitalist societies and which the left in its “massive fixations” and resentments, seeks to obliterate.
I shall continue to comment based upon the realities of both Cuba where I am in daily contact with my family, and the politics of the US in relation to Cuba.
Cuba is free to buy frozen chicken from whomever they please. I am not quite sure why “Nice” is complaining about the quality of the chicken that Cuba purchases from the US. The problem is not the chicken. The problem is Tyson is probably one if only a few producers who are willing to do business with the Cubans. To be clear, food and medicine are exempt from the US embargo. Cuba is known internationally as a terrible customer. Their slow and no pay reputation precedes them and only a limited amount of producers are willing to take the risk. Those that do, do so with products that would otherwise go unsold to anyone else so why not sell to Cuba? This reputation is no one’s fault except for the failed Castro dictatorship. The truth is, Tyson foods is probably doing Cuba a favor.
Cuba at the upper levels of government are making a lot of mistakes for a lot of years now. There seems no end for the poor there and also the appearance of a leadership that cares is missing. Buildings fall , people starve , covid-19 can not be controlled, the hospitals can provide little, deaths occur when balconies fall, the currency is not respected or accepted anywhere in the world, the lines for what little is available are horrid and the ideal breeding ground for covid, etc etc . Sadly nothing is being done within the island to curb such a horrid disaster.
The answer are simply but gross greed and power at the top will never allow the people to see, live and enjoy freedom. Near every Cuban wants out of their prison and a opportunity to enjoy their lives.
Don’t power the blame over to Trump, 60 years ago he did not know where Cuba was.
Another sad and perverted little trump activity…… this time in order to deprive Cubans of sub standard US chicken.
Chicken which is after all, deemed unfit for human consumption in Europe.
Cuba should produce their own chicken and not be subject to the vagaries of a supply line dependent upon an undemocratic US election charade.
Lil ol trump spoke the truth when he said that if everyone in the USA were able to vote, they would never have a republican president again. The voter suppression juggernaut is fuelling up. Democracy in the USA is something which needs to be worked toward at some point when those guys get some timeout from their current travails.
The USA has been trying this slack policy toward Cuba for decades.
It ain’t useless if the objective is merely to hoover up FLA electoral college votes.
But it has been, and it looks like it will always be, useless if the objective is to reassert US dominance over Cuba.
Mr MacD, a return to US dominance over Cuba is, weirdly, something you seem to be not only in favour of, but massively fixated with.
Each to their own.
I may not have any specific political adherence, but when it comes to Cuba’s right to their hard won independence, I know where my heart lies……
It is possible for an observer to be so concerned with criticism of “the old place” USA, that the full significance of a political move is not absorbed.
Rodriguez Callejas is Head of GAESA. GAESA controls over 80% of Cuba’s economy. He “now cannot carry out transactions involving individuals and entities of the US.” That appears to create some difficulties in purchasing frozen chicken from Tyson’s. let alone all the other US products upon which Cuba has some dependence. Then there is Helms/Burton!
The action is “useless”? Just because one observer doesn’t “give a flying f**k?
Mr MacD,
I couldn’t give a flying f**k about this Cuban General or his percentages. Neither could the vast overwhelming majority of the good folks of the United States.
Thankfully I have no fixation regarding these individuals.
My concrete opinion as stated many times is that Communists can be as corrupt as Capitalists and vice versa.
My point is that this is a useless tinpot gesture from a useless tinpot regime which is blatantly aimed at hoovering up FLA electoral college votes.
Same as it ever was.
The Cubans will see out this particularly sad little episode in US history as they have seen out so many of the same before. Again – same as it ever was.
Under President Obama it seemed that the USA had finally come of age.
Sadly it was a false dawn.
Perhaps Nick can assure us that Rodriguez Callejas does not have any personal investments in the US and doesn’t take any personal sneaky little capitalist cuts from any of the importations he controls?
Oh ! I made a mistake, Rodriguez Callejas is a communist and so couldn’t possibly be involved in corruption?
Whereas Nick describes the US action as: “a pathetic little tinpot foreign policy gesture”, I believe that my description of it being: “very serious – a real body blow” is more accurate. Watch and see !
In answer to Moses, Alex Castro is probably on a yacht cruising in the Aegean, keeping away from the chance of catching Covid. Self-preservation is a Castro priority.
There are times when arrogant but ultimately pointless tinpot gestures from the USA are be expected – particularly when decisions are being taken by such an odious and irrational regime and when FLA electoral college votes are at stake.
There are other times when, regardless of context, certain US gestures are truly lame-assed and pathetic.
It’s most disconcerting for me, as a big fan of the USA, to see the old place on the slippery slide to such an extent. The cops are shooting folks in the back in front of their children just coz of skin colour. The far-right vigilante militia is tooled up with weapons of war and out on patrol. The President refuses to condemn them good ‘ol far right extremist boys coz he knows they’re gonna vote for him. The tv debate is a farce with two sad little men barking at each other like two stringy and mangy old dogs. Old and new voter suppression techniques are in full flow. The economy is heading down the pan. The President is ailing from a disease he said doesn’t exist……..
And…….
back to my point, there is a simple way of describing this particular lame-assed and pathetic little tinpot foreign policy gesture:
‘over-reach’
As Carlyle MacDuff’s comment touches upon, the Castro family inner circle is akin to the worst of Latin American telenovelas about family struggles for power and wealth. To sanction this particular family member is a blow to the money manipulations that keep the Castros knee-deep in their champagne and caviar lifestyle. Speaking of which, I can’t remember the last time I heard about the Ferrari driving youngest son of Fidel Castro. What happened to him?
This man controls more than 80% of Cuba’s economy. All the shops, hotels, airlines, coaches, almost everything.
It would be interesting to know when the divorce occurred and who instigated it? Rodriguez Callejas was said to beat his wife Deborah on numerous occasions, without the macho Raul intervening. His father is Major General Guillermo Rodriguez de Pezo a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
As the person responsible for almost all importations including food, the US decision to prevent Rodriguez Callejas carrying out transactions with individuals and entities in the US is very serious – a real body blow.
Another of Raul’s daughters Nilsa, was said to be rebellious and married an Italian with whom she had two sons, before returning to Cuba and taking up a common law relationship with Julio Cesar Diaz Garrandes, who was then jailed in 2011, by Raul for corruption. Nlsa was reported to have later died. Mariela as a Diputado in the Poder Popular and KGB trained Alejandro controlling both internal and external security through MININT, are dedicated communists..
Raul is the father of three other sons from two of his liasons.