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The State Department revoked this Thursday the legal permanent residency of Adys Lastres Morera, a Cuban citizen residing in Miami, and warned the Havana regime that “The complacency is over.”
Agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed the detention of Lastres Morera, sister of Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, the Executive President of GAESA (Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A.), the powerful financial-military conglomerate of the Cuban regime.
The official was sanctioned by the U.S. on May 7 for her role at the head of that entity. "While the Cuban people suffer from the collapse of Cuba's dysfunctional communist economy, GAESA operates to allow a small circle of regime elites to plunder all remaining resources on the island, hiding up to $20 billion in illicit funds in secret bank accounts abroad," the statement emphasizes.
In the statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that the revocation of the Green Card was ordered directly by him and that Adys Lastres Morera remains in ICE custody undergoing deportation proceedings, with no criminal charges filed against her.
According to the text, Adys had entered the U.S. as a permanent resident on January 13, 2023 and resided in Miami, where he was listed as a manager or registered agent for at least two real estate investment companies in Florida: REMAS Investments LLC and Santa Elena Investments LLC.
Rubio accused her of managing real estate assets in U.S. territory while aiding the communist regime in Havana.
Before emigrating, Adys Lastres Morera had managed tourist rentals in Havana through Airbnb, including properties identified as Casa Verde Habana and Casa Presidente.
The Secretary of State described GAESA as a tool that allows a small elite of the regime to "plunder all the remaining resources of the island," accumulating up to $20 billion in illicit funds in hidden bank accounts abroad.
Rubio identified Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, a brigadier general of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), as the highest-ranking executive of GAESA responsible for managing those illegal international assets, used "not to improve the lives of the Cuban people, but to finance the luxurious lifestyles of the members of the Castro family and other elites of the regime."
The arrest is part of the increased pressure from the Trump administration against the Cuban regime, which on May 1 signed Executive Order 14404, a new sanctions framework that includes asset blocking and secondary sanctions against foreign entities that do business with GAESA.
The U.S. set June 5 as the deadline for foreign companies to sever ties with the conglomerate, and major shipping lines like Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM have already suspended operations with Cuba in response to these pressures.
Rubio was categorical in stating that the policy of tolerance from previous administrations towards the families of elites from repressive regimes has ended: "Under President Trump, we are expelling from our country the families of IRGC terrorists and the elites of the Cuban regime."
The Secretary of State delivered a direct message to the leadership of the military conglomerate: "To the members of the Cuban communist mafia and GAESA, we have a simple message: the appeasement of the past is over. Return the funds you have stolen from the Cuban people, implement reforms to improve the lives of ordinary Cubans, and allow the Cuban people to have the freedom, opportunity, and dignity they long for and so rightly deserve."
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