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The arrest in Madrid of the president and CEO of the Spanish airline Plus Ultra, noted for years for its financial ties to Venezuela and its lucrative contracts with the Cuban government, sparked a new wave of scrutiny on a company that has transported high-ranking officials from the island, operated flights for Cubana de Aviación, and played a key role in tourist routes to Varadero and Holguín. Now, however, its top executives are under arrest for an alleged crime of money laundering.
Agents from the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) searched the airline's headquarters in Madrid under the order of Court of Instruction number 15, as reported by Euro News.
The investigation, conducted under confidentiality, aims to clarify suspicious accounting and corporate activities. The arrested individuals are Julio Martínez, the president and owner of the company, and Roberto Roselli, the CEO.
The operation was reactivated following an initiative by the Madrid Prosecutor's Office, which revisited documentation related to the controversial €53 million bailout that the company received from the Spanish government in 2021 during the pandemic. This bailout had already raised eyebrows because Plus Ultra had a minimal presence in the Spanish market, was partially controlled by Venezuelan shareholders, and, according to independent experts, showed signs of insolvency even before the health crisis.
Now, the Anti-Corruption Office is investigating whether part of that public money ended up in foreign accounts linked to an alleged Venezuelan criminal network, and whether rescue funds were used for payments to PDVSA, Venezuela's state-owned oil company, an operation that judicial experts deemed irregular, stated El País.
The ties with Cuba: flights for Díaz-Canel, leases for Cubana, and tourism operations
The news of the arrest resonates particularly in Cuba, where Plus Ultra has had a significant presence in recent years and has been a key player in both the regime's official trips and the island's air connectivity.
The Spanish airline was rented by Havana for the transport of leader Miguel Díaz-Canel during his Middle East tour in 2023, utilizing an Airbus A330-202, whose rental for private flights can exceed 11,000 dollars per hour. That same aircraft took the Cuban delegation to the UN General Assembly in New York, according to the data journalism project Inventario.
In parallel, Cubana de Aviación has repeatedly turned to leased aircraft from Plus Ultra to maintain strategic routes that its aging and limited fleet cannot cover. From flights between Havana, Santiago de Cuba, and Madrid, to recent operations between Germany and Cuba in an effort to sustain tourism that declines year after year.
Only in December, the Cuban government presented as an "achievement" the resumption of connections from Frankfurt to Holguín and Havana, operated with a plane rented from Plus Ultra, while German tourism is plummeting by more than 40% and the island is facing one of its worst energy and economic crises in decades.
Plus Ultra has also transported hundreds of Polish tourists to Varadero, in agreements aimed at sustaining the peak season despite the increasing hardships that both visitors and Cubans are reporting throughout the country.
The contrast: an airline under suspicion and a country that pays the price
The investigation in Spain is not directed against Cuba, but it does impact a company closely linked to some of the regime's most controversial expenses in recent years, including high-cost international flights for its leaders and agreements to sustain routes that the state airline Cubana can no longer operate.
For now, Plus Ultra claims to be cooperating with the authorities and states that its flights are operating normally. The court anticipates further actions in the coming days to determine whether the company's financial activities actually constitute a money laundering offense.
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