U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Jorge Javier Rodríguez Cabrera, a former diplomat of Cuba’s communist regime with close ties to the grandson of dictator Raúl Castro, Martí Noticias reported on Tuesday.
Rodríguez Cabrera, 37, was detained in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he registered a company dedicated to shipping services to Cuba that has over a dozen offices spread across several American cities. ICE sources told Martí Noticias that Rodríguez Cabrera was placed in expedited deportation proceedings and could face a swift return to Cuba.
The former Cuban diplomat reportedly entered the United States through the southern border in 2022 alongside his wife Isabean Rapetti and children and requested political asylum. Information confirmed by Martí Noticias indicates that the wife and children have U.S. permanent resident status.
Martí Noticias detailed Rodríguez Cabrera’s ties to the Cuban regime and years-long diplomatic career at the service of the ruling communists in a separate report published in May. Luis Domínguez, a researcher at the nongovernmental organization Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba (FHRC), explained to Martí Noticias at the time that, like his father, Rodríguez Cabrera worked at the Cuban Foreign Ministry. The report stated that it was his closeness with Raúl Guillermo “The Crab” Rodríguez Castro, the grandson and bodyguard of nonagenarian dictator Raúl Castro, that “opened the doors.”
Photos obtained by Martí Noticias from 2015 show Rodríguez Cabrera next to Raúl Castro and his grandson at a time when the communist dictator visited the United States under the auspices of former President Barack Obama, who granted generous concessions to the ruling communists as part of his “Cuban Thaw” initiative.
Footage published by América TeVé in 2023 shows Rodríguez Cabrera and the dictator’s grandson in a yacht alongside their respective companions, enjoying lavish meals and drinks that Cubans, impoverished by over six decades of communism, cannot freely access. Martí Noticias pointed out in May that the group was on a yacht despite the Cuban regime strictly prohibiting regular citizens from freely accessing motorboats. Other images reviewed by the outlet show Rodríguez Cabrera at a baseball stadium in New York in 2021. Sources close to Rodríguez Cabrera’s family confirmed the former diplomat’s trips to the United States and close ties to the Castros to Martí Noticias at the time.
After crossing the U.S. southern border in 2022 and applying for asylum, Rodríguez Cabrera settled in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he reportedly worked in small local businesses and as a pool cleaner. He then registered “Gran Azul LLC” in November 2024, a company that offers door-to-door shipping, logistics, car sales, food, and tourist package services to Cuba. Official Nevada state documents reviewed by Martí Noticias list Rodríguez Cabrera as the entity’s manager, with a man identified as Marcel Blanco Fernández as a “member.”
According to the company’s website, Gran Azul LLC has offices located in Las Vegas, Austin, Dumas, Tampa, New Mexico, Miami, San Antonio, Phoenix, Porter, Hialeah, Louisville, Jacksonville, Michigan, Orlando, Fort Myers, West Palm Beach, Arlington, Amarillo, Naples, and Houston.
The company also promotes “tourist packages” to destinations across the United States and Europe and has a “market” section in which users can purchase groceries and have them “express delivered” to an address in Cuba.
Claudia Padrón Cueto, a journalist at the outlet Cubanet, explained to Martí Noticias that those types of business tend to be linked to the Cuban regime or are run by people who occupied high government positions before migrating. Padrón Cueto stressed that “this business model flourished during the pandemic.”
“Without wishing to be categorical, I would say that most successful companies involved in shipments to Cuba have direct connections to the regime or are run by front men for the government itself,” Padrón Cueto said.
Martí Noticias stated that questions surrounding Rodríguez Cabrera and his rapid business ascension in the United States alarmed the Cuban diaspora community.
“He met ‘The Crab’ through his wife, who was friends with Sheyla Puentes, the mother of Raúl’s granddaughters,” a relative of Rodríguez Cabrera told Martí Noticias on condition of anonymity. “Although that relationship ended, his friendship with Jorge Javier continued. He would ask him to run errands, such as trips to buy things for him. He came to the US and Mexico several times.”
Martí Noticias stated that Rodríguez Cabrera did not accept requests for an interview. During one attempt to contact him prior to his detention, the outlet reported that “a male voice with a Cuban accent answered a number identified as his and denied knowing him” and, shortly after, his Instagram account was taken down. Martí Noticias tried to contact Marcel Blanco Fernández, who appears listed in the company documents, but “he blocked messages after the first attempt.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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