The U.S. government arrested Adys Lastres Morera on Thursday in Miami, Florida. She is a deportable legal permanent resident and the sister of the executive president of the Business Administration Group S.A. (GAESA), the military conglomerate of the Cuban regime, following a deportability determination issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Agents from the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Lastres Morera after the U.S. Department of State revoked his legal permanent resident status on May 20 because "his presence violates the Immigration and Nationality Act."
ICE warned in an official statement posted on its website that Lastres Morera's presence "represents a threat to the United States and undermines the interests of U.S. foreign policy."
The detainee is the older sister of Brigadier General Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, who leads GAESA, the business group of the Armed Forces (FAR) of Cuba, which controls between 40% and 70% of the Cuban economy and handles up to 20 billion dollars in illicit assets, according to U.S. authorities.
Adys Lastres Morera entered the U.S. on January 13, 2023, during the Biden administration, as requested by her son Ernesto Carvajal Lastres, an American citizen.
Since her arrival, she has been listed as a manager or registered agent in real estate companies in Florida, including REMAS Investments LLC and Santa Elena Investments LLC, based in Boca Raton.
The U.S. government specified that there are no records of having requested citizenship through naturalization or an American passport.
The State Department determined this Wednesday that Adys Lastres Morera could be deported from the U.S. under Section 237(a)(4)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows for the removal of permanent residents when their presence poses serious adverse consequences for the country's foreign policy.
The statement issued by ICE emphatically underscored that allowing Lastres Morera to remain in the country "is incompatible with current U.S. efforts to impose sanctions and deny privileges to networks linked to Cuban officials acting against U.S. interests."
The interim associate executive director of HSI, John Condon, was emphatic about the arrest: "GAESA, controlled by the Cuban military and the core of that country's kleptocratic communist system, controls up to $20 billion in illicit assets. Allowing Lastres Morera to remain in the country would send a signal that networks linked to the Cuban regime could continue to access U.S. financial, educational, and social institutions, but that is not the case."
Condon added that his presence in the United States could have "serious consequences for our nation's foreign policy, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has determined that he is deportable under the Immigration and Nationality Act."
The arrest, he emphasized, "sends a powerful message that this administration can act swiftly to defend our homeland, safeguard our foreign policy interests, and enforce the laws of the nation."
"HSI will continue investigating those with connections to our nation's adversaries and will take necessary measures to neutralize threats against our homeland," the official warned.
Adys Lastres Morera remains in the custody of ICE while deportation proceedings are underway.
His arrest occurs as part of a coordinated offensive by the Trump administration against the Cuban regime. Just one day earlier, the Department of Justice made public a formal indictment against Raúl Castro for the downing of two aircraft belonging to the organization Brothers to the Rescue on February 24, 1996, which resulted in the deaths of four individuals.
On May 7, Rubio imposed sanctions directly on GAESA, Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, and the mining company Moa Nickel S.A. under Executive Order 14404, signed by Donald Trump on May 1.
Additionally, the U.S. set a deadline of June 5 for foreign companies to sever ties with GAESA, under the threat of secondary sanctions.
The ICE statement pointed out that the income of the military business group exceeds more than three times the budget of the Cuban government and "only benefits corrupt elites," as it is funneled into hidden bank accounts abroad while "ordinary Cubans continue to suffer under the communist regime."
Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, 63 years old, has been appointed to serve as the executive president of GAESA following the passing in July 2022 of Major General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, former son-in-law of Raúl Castro and a key figure within the regime's leadership, who commanded the military economic empire for over 20 years. Initially, the high-ranking official of the FAR assumed the position on an interim basis, until she was confirmed in February 2023.
Investigative journalism recently revealed that the official holds 75% of the shares in Allicom Limited, a company registered in the United Kingdom, and owns apartments in Panama, while her daughter resides in that country and works in the international port sector.
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