Economist Elías Amor made a strong assertion in an interview with Tania Costa. The military conglomerate Gaesa must be eliminated for the Cuban economy to recover.
"We need to remove Gaesa from its current position; it has to be eliminated so that the Cuban economy can once again be integrated and open," stated the economist.
The analysis of Amor takes place days after the regime publicly defended Gaesa for the first time, with a note published on June 2 in Granma titled "Cuba, the GAE and the United States: anatomy of a state slander," in which it denied that the conglomerate is an "opaque structure or parallel to the Cuban state."
The interviewer expressed regret that "everything Gaesa accomplished in 30 years is summed up in a paragraph in Granma," she said. For his part, Elías Amor agrees that "that press release is hastily put together."
One of the most revealing points of the analysis was the absence of the word "hospital" in that official note. The regime has always argued that the money withheld from Cuban doctors on missions abroad was reinvested in hospitals, but that justification did not appear at any point in the statement. Amor confirmed that Gaesa also controlled those funds: "Yes, of course," he replied when asked about it.
For the economist, the central problem is that Gaesa acts as a barrier that obstructs the flow of foreign currency to the rest of the Cuban economy.
"Gentlemen, because Gaesa is in the middle preventing the money generated by the Cuban economy abroad from flowing back to the sectors of the Cuban economy," he explained.
Amor described the beneficiaries of the conglomerate with a stark image: "We assume they must be people very close to the political power that governs Cuba. And those people don't want to let go of that piece of meat they have in their grasp. They are like true starving dogs and do not want to release it."
This concentration of resources, according to the economist, condemns the rest of Cuba's productive fabric. "That amount of meat is what causes the other part of the Cuban economy, the part let's call poor, not to have the recognition and capacity it should have."
The analysis takes place at a time of massive departures of hotel chains from Cuba: Iberostar ceased management of 12 hotels as of June 1, and Meliá announced the cessation in 15 hotels on June 3. Amor argues that these exits are not a response to the Trump administration's ultimatum, but rather a result of the collapse of Cuban tourism, with a 50% drop in the first four months of 2026 and hotel occupancy rates not exceeding 10%.
Amor also pointed out the language that the regime chose in its declaration. Instead of referring to itself as "the government of Cuba," it used the term "revolution." For the economist, this choice is not accidental: "When do they use it? When they feel threatened like a wounded boar."
As long as Gaesa remains in its position, Amor concludes, Cuba will not be able to sell globally or access international financial markets, and the country's economy will continue to be divided between an opaque military elite and a productive sector devoid of resources and future.
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