The messenger from 'El Cangrejo': An agent and "entrepreneur" from MININT who tried to bypass Rubio to reach Trump



Roberto Carlos Chamizo González and Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez CastroPhoto © Linkedin / Roberto Carlos Chamizo González

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A report from the team at CubaNet, published this Monday, reveals that Roberto Carlos Chamizo González, the man who acted as a messenger for Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro —known as 'El Cangrejo'— to deliver a letter addressed to President Donald Trump, is not the independent businessman he portrays on his social media.

Chamizo González, nephew of the retired colonel from the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) Carlos Miguel Chamizo Trujillo, is actually an official trained in the academies of that repressive institution, who would operate under the orders of its intelligence agencies disguised as a business, according to the aforementioned independent outlet.

The trusted man of 'El Cangrejo' arrived in Miami on the weekend of April 18 and 19 carrying the letter with the official seal, a day after the American media Axios confirmed that Rodríguez Castro — lieutenant colonel of the MININT and head of the personal security of his grandfather Raúl Castro — would participate in the meeting held in Havana in mid-April with State Department officials.

However, the bizarre episode concluded with an ending worthy of the strategic acumen of the most famous "crustacean" on the Island these days: A Customs agent confiscated the letter and deported Chamizo González back to Cuba for lacking diplomatic status.

According to analysts like Peter Kornbluh, the operation was deliberately designed to bypass Secretary of State Marco Rubio and establish a direct channel with Trump. "Cubans seem to be trying to avoid Rubio and send a clear message directly to Trump," Kornbluh stated to CubaNet.

Six sources from Chamizo González's personal and family environment confirmed to the media that the 37-year-old studied between 2003 and 2006 at the "Hermanos Martínez Tamayo" Vocational Pre-University Institute, an academy of MININT, and graduated in 2011 from the University of Havana with the rank of lieutenant and an assignment to the Special Operations Department of MININT.

Shortly after, he was integrated into the International Operations Department of the Central Bank of Cuba, where he joined a financial monitoring group that operated in Europe and Asia, which they internally referred to as the "Team Party".

"He arrived in the role of a recent graduate, intelligent, charismatic, handsome, friendly... In short, the perfect façade for what we were doing," said a source from the bank based in Havana. Being the youngest in the group, his colleagues nicknamed him 'The Kid.'

Chamizo carried out missions in London, Switzerland, Dubai, and Madrid until 2018, and his sources of funding are not a mystery: the money to fund his businesses came, according to a former bank official based in Panama, "from the same friends he made during those trips and under that guise."

The business facade includes the tourist estate El Patrón, located in East Havana, which grew from a pig farm managed by her uncle under MININT, absorbing lands from farmers through forced evictions since 2023. “They act like a mafia,” denounced a member of an affected farming family.

El Patrón was added to the excursion catalog of Gaviota Tours —a company of the military conglomerate GAESA— due to "high-level" decisions, not for commercial reasons.

Chamizo González also manages the luxury transportation service Havana Prestige, apartments in Vedado and Centro Habana —which are rented at more than 280 dollars per night— and the restaurant Mía Culpa Havana, located within the Iberostar Grand Packard Hotel, owned by GAESA. In December 2025, he founded the company RCCH Investment SL in Spain.

In social media, Chamizo hides his full name and presents himself as 'Carlos Milán', posting photos on yachts, jets, and high-end cars. A source who has witnessed the relationship between Chamizo and El Cangrejo describes it with one phrase: «They are like two peas in a pod».

The episode is part of a process of secret negotiations between Cuba and the United States that began in February 2026, when El Cangrejo initiated contact with Rubio.

On April 10, a delegation from the State Department arrived in Havana on the first official U.S. flight since 2016 and formally met with Rodríguez Castro.

Washington issued a two-week ultimatum for the release of high-profile political prisoners such as Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Osorbo, with the deadline expiring around April 24 without visible results.

In statements to CubaNet, Ricardo Herrero, executive director of the Cuba Study Group, described the strategy of sending the secret letter as “foolish and doomed to failure,” a judgment that carries more weight now that the true profile of the man entrusted with such a delicate mission by the regime is known.

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CiberCuba Editorial Team

A team of journalists committed to reporting on Cuban current affairs and topics of global interest. At CiberCuba, we work to deliver truthful news and critical analysis.

CiberCuba Editorial Team

A team of journalists committed to reporting on Cuban current affairs and topics of global interest. At CiberCuba, we work to deliver truthful news and critical analysis.