José Miguel González Vidal, one of the leaders of the so-called Cuban Mafia in Quintana Roo, declared to U.S. authorities that he provided a high-performance boat and other expensive gifts to Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, known as "El Cangrejo," grandson of Raúl Castro and head of his personal security.
The revelations appear in court records cited this Tuesday by an investigation from The New York Times, which reconstructs the operations of a violent network that has been dedicated for years to the trafficking of Cuban migrants between the island, Mexico, and Southern Florida.
According to González Vidal's testimony, Rodríguez Castro allegedly received, in addition to the boat, a Rolex watch, a Suzuki motorcycle, and Louis Vuitton clothing. In return, he was supposedly required to help keep the Cuban Coast Guard and Customs at bay to facilitate the movement of people and goods.
"The Crab" is a colonel in the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) and has been in charge of his grandfather's personal security since 2016.
According to the American newspaper, the FBI found evidence supporting González Vidal's testimony in text messages and voice messages extracted from the cell phones of members of the organization, according to sources familiar with the case.
González Vidal, a 38-year-old Cuban-Spanish, pleaded guilty in late 2023 to conspiracy charges under RICO law in a federal court in Miami and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) described him as a “career criminal” with a history of kidnapping, robbery, grand theft, and illegal use of credit cards. He had been deported to Spain and later extradited to Florida.
A federal judge recently ordered the record of González Vidal to be kept under seal, a measure that can occur when a defendant cooperates with prosecutors. His lawyer, Juan D. Berrios, declined to comment on the matter.
A network that trafficked Cubans for $10,000
The accusations are part of an extensive investigation by the FBI and DHS known as Operation Sisyphus, focused on an organization that operated between Cuba, Mexico, and southern Florida since at least 2009.
According to court documents, its members stole more than 600 outboard motors and boats in cities across southwest Florida, from Sarasota to Marco Island. The equipment was subsequently transported to Quintana Roo and used, among other activities, to clandestinely transport Cuban migrants.
The organization charged around $10,000 per person for the perilous journeys.
For those who could not pay, the journey could turn into a nightmare. Some migrants were held in safe houses while their families were extorted for money. Others were beaten or tortured with Taser guns, while some women ended up being forced to work in nightclubs.
About 25 people died during the sea journeys, according to the court documents cited in the investigation.
"We applied physical punishment. Sometimes they were beaten with a wooden board or with a Taser," stated Reynaldo Crespo Márquez in 2023 before a federal court in Miami, a member of the organization who was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty.
Among the Cubans smuggled by this network were figures who later gained notoriety in Major League Baseball, such as Yasiel Puig, former outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and shortstop Adeiny Hechavarría.
The investigation has resulted in at least 21 convictions.
"The Crab" has not been charged in the United States
Despite the statements from González Vidal and the evidence described by The New York Times, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro has not been formally charged with any crime in the United States, and the federal investigation remains ongoing.
The Cuban government rejected the accusations. Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío described them as "slander" and stated that "there is no link to the Cuban government."
Rodríguez Castro, for his part, did not respond to the requests for comments from the American newspaper.
The revelations gain particular significance due to the increasing role that «El Cangrejo» has played throughout 2026 as an informal intermediary between Havana and Washington.
Raúl Castro's grandson met separately with the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and with the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, amid ongoing contacts between both governments.
The case also brings attention back to the organization's connections in Mexico.
In April, Mexican authorities arrested Remigio Valdez-Lao, alias "Milo," 59 years old, identified as a key financial player in the criminal network and who is facing an extradition process to the United States.
Valdez-Lao had already been arrested in 2010 in Sarasota during one of the first undercover operations related to the group. Years later, U.S. authorities would connect those activities to a much broader conspiracy that moved millions of dollars and turned the clandestine routes between Cuba, Mexico, and Florida into a business marked by thefts, extortion, violence, and the deaths of Cuban migrants at sea.
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