The Cuban-American businessman Max Álvarez revealed in an interview with journalist Mario J. Pentón his vision for helping Cuba: not through direct investment that would further enrich him, but by teaching the Cubans themselves to build their economic independence from the ground up.
Álvarez reported that a few days ago a Cuban congressman - whose name he did not specify - asked him how many gas stations he would be opening on the island, and he clarified that the land would be "virtually free."
The businessman recounted that he responded negatively to the proposal.
"Do you think I'm going to Cuba to open a gas station to take advantage of the misery that our brothers and sisters are experiencing? No.", he said.
Instead, the founder of Sunshine Gasoline Distributors proposes a radically different plan: to transfer capitalist knowledge for free.
"I want to go to Cuba and sit down with the Cubans and tell them: the end does not justify the means. You don't have to keep depending on the government. I know how to build a gas station. Look at how you have to do it. This is the plan. I will teach you how to build your gas station.", he explained.
"I will bring them the plans and give it to them as a gift. How to set up a station, how to go to the bank and request credit, and how they can set up their own stations and put their families to work. And I will not take advantage of my brothers who are suffering," he added.
His personal philosophy is clear: "Work is the common denominator" and that is what he believes should be done with the Cubans on the island, to teach them to thrive on their own, and not to go there to profit from them.
His final message to the Cubans on the island is one of hope and challenge: "What I will teach the Cubans is how to do it better than I did, because I want them to understand: if I did it, they can do it too."
He says that the congressman who asked him about the gas stations he would set up told him upon hearing his plan, "You’re crazy, kid"; to which he claims he replied, "Yes, I really am crazy."
Álvarez also vehemently rejected the idea of claiming properties confiscated by the regime, such as the house that his parents built brick by brick and that was taken from them in 1964.
He says it's unheard of for him to come to Cuba and demand anything from a Cuban who has been living in that house for some time and who can't even paint it.
"If I am that Cuban, you have to kill me. You have to kill me. We need to forget about that. All it does is create hatred. Do you want to help them by teaching them more hatred than what the communists have already taught them? No.", he declared.
The businessman described the extent of the damage caused by the dictatorship.
"More than 60 years ago, there are six generations of Cubans who have been suffering under the communist yoke, Cubans who have nothing to eat, often have nothing to drink, live without electricity, and are all indoctrinated with that philosophy which ultimately justifies the means," he stated.
Regarding the possibility of negotiating with the Cuban regime, Álvarez was categorical: "one cannot negotiate with communist regimes".
"They believe that the end justifies the means. They lie, manipulate. That's a serious problem," he concluded.
Álvarez arrived in the United States at the age of 13 through Operation Peter Pan, the program that transported over 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban children between 1960 and 1962.
Started with nothing, without knowing English, and built from scratch one of the largest independent fuel distributors in the southeast of the country.
In March 2026, President Donald Trump publicly mentioned Max Álvarez from the White House as an example of the success of Cubans in the United States.
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