The Diplomarket is closing down and its owner is missing in Cuba.

The Cuban regime would have arbitrarily closed Diplomarket, the so-called "Cuban Costco", and detained its owner, Cuban-American businessman Frank Cuspinera.

The independent media outlet La Tijera published a report stating that the owner of Diplomarket has been unreachable since June 20, 2024, when military forces intervened in his company.

Sources confirmed to CiberCuba that the business was intervened without prior notice and under accusations of tax evasion, currency trafficking, and money laundering.

Cuspinera, who also manages TCC Las Américas Importadora Exportadora in the United States, had successfully established herself in Cuba since 2013, offering products through her Diplomarket platform.

However, his economic success seems to have made him a target for the Castro regime, the publication notes.

The authorities waited until the end of June 20 to raid his company and confiscate all his assets in a sale that they themselves had previously authorized, the post explains. For this, they used military personnel and members of the military conglomerate GAESA.

The situation worsened the day after the arrest of Cuspinera and his wife, Camila, when the authorities began distributing the confiscated assets among the members of the Castro's inner circle, as detailed in the publication.

According to sources close to the case, this type of abuse is not isolated. This month, judicial controls have been held for other entrepreneurs who have been unjustly imprisoned for a year. Although some were granted bail or released by a judge's decision, those decisions were revoked on the same day by Cuban military officials, showing the lack of justice and respect for the law in the country, the note adds.

The case of Cuspinera reflects a repetitive pattern where the regime attacks those who try to create opportunities and prosperity outside state control, emphasizes the publication, which underscores that numerous entrepreneurs are being unjustly investigated or detained simply for trying to improve the lives of Cubans by creating jobs and better living conditions.

Last year, the Cuban regime denied the existence of a Costco supermarket in Havana, stating that it was a business owned by a small or medium-sized enterprise.

Patrick Oppmann, a CNN correspondent, showed with astonishment images of what he described as "the first Costco in Cuba" in October 2023, and warned that not everyone could afford the extremely high prices of the store where payments in CUP, USD, and euros are accepted.

Las Américas TCC, a company led by Cuspinera, was responsible for supplying the so-called "Cuban Costco", inaugurated at the end of 2022.

When Oppmann's report came out, the independent portal 14ymedio visited the store and was able to verify the intense surveillance it was subjected to.

The publication explained that at a first booth, they collected the data of the vehicles along with the entry time, and further down there was another guarded booth before entering the store, whose owner was not known at the time, as the company was not listed among the approved micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) by the Ministry of Economy and Planning.

The newspaper confirmed that the businessman had previously lived in the United States and currently resided in El Vedado, in Havana.

His name appeared in a letter that several Cuban entrepreneurs sent to the U.S. President, Joe Biden, asking him to lift the sanctions against the Cuban government that were affecting their businesses.