Manuel Anido Cuesta, son of Lis Cuesta and stepson of the Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel, oversaw for nine months a company registered in Madrid dedicated to strategic consulting for international clients and the establishment of businesses and investment platforms in Europe, according to official documents from the Spanish Commercial Register reviewed by CiberCuba.
The Official Bulletin of the Mercantile Registry (BORME) certifies that on April 16, 2025, Anido Cuesta was appointed sole administrator of Arcturus 2025 SL, a company established just two months prior.
On that same day, the company changed its name to Meridian Wealth Group SL, modified its corporate purpose, and now has Anido Cuesta as the sole partner. In other words, in addition to assuming management, it now formally controls 100% of the company.
The new corporate purpose included strategic consulting for international clients, especially American, Latin American, and Caribbean, in business establishment processes and investment platforms.
It also included the prospecting and research of the European market, with particular focus on the Iberian market.
The registration documents do not indicate that the company has incurred any irregularities nor do they provide information on which clients it had, what operations it conducted, or what volume of business it managed.
Anido Cuesta acquired a company that was founded two months prior
Anido Cuesta did not establish the company from scratch.
The company was established on February 14, 2025, under the name Arcturus 2025 SL and was subsequently registered in the Mercantile Registry of Madrid with a share capital of 3,000 euros and located at Plaza de las Salesas, 7.
His first unique partner was A.R. Montis Management SL, while Andrés Ruiz Manzano served as the sole administrator.
The initially recorded activities included business management consulting, holding companies, accounting, tax advisory, auditing intermediation, and certain real estate transactions.
Two months after the constitution, the change occurred.
On April 16, Ruiz Manzano ceased to be the administrator and was replaced by Anido Cuesta. At the same time, Anido became the sole partner and changed both the name and the purpose of the company.
The commercial registers show that A.R. Montis Management appears as a founding partner in other recently established companies, while Ruiz Manzano is also listed in similar corporate operations.
The pattern points to a professional activity involving the establishment and initiation of companies for their subsequent transfer, a common and legal practice in the Spanish market.
Therefore, the available data is consistent with Anido acquiring a previously established company and, once under his control, transforming it into Meridian Wealth Group, adapting its purpose to the activity he intended to develop.
CiberCuba did not find in the records and sources consulted any elements linking Ruiz Manzano or A.R. Montis Management to Cuba, the Cuban government, or the Díaz-Canel family.
A consulting firm focused on Latin America and the Caribbean
The change of the corporate purpose is one of the most important aspects of the documentation.
Under Anido's oversight, Meridian Wealth Group registered itself as a company focused on providing services to international clients, with a special emphasis on America, Latin America, and the Caribbean, interested in developing business and investment platforms.
The European market —and particularly the Iberian one— emerged as one of its areas of operation.
The public information from the Commercial Registry, however, does not allow us to determine whether the company engaged in significant operations during its nine months under Anido's control.
There is also no detail in the consulted public commercial information that allows for the identification of clients, specific operations, or the volume of revenue generated during that period.
The company was liquidated nine months later
Anido's tenure at the helm of Meridian Wealth Group was brief.
On January 20, 2026, he ceased to be the sole administrator, was appointed liquidator, and the voluntary dissolution and extinction of the company were agreed upon, actions that were later published in the BORME.
In this way, Anido formally controlled Meridian Wealth Group from April 16, 2025, to January 20, 2026.
The brief duration of the company under its control is not an anomaly in itself, and the documents reviewed do not provide information that would allow for the establishment of the reasons for its liquidation.
Entrepreneur while pursuing a program costing over 12,000 euros in Madrid
The business activity coincided with a period when Anido Cuesta was already established in Spain.
In February 2025, CiberCuba reported that it had been captured by the cameras of Europa Press in the Plaza de la Platería de Martínez, in the central Barrio de las Letras of Madrid, an area where rental prices can reach several thousand euros per month.
The information published at that time indicated their residence there, although it is not publicly known how much they paid for the housing or under what conditions they occupied it.
Months later, Martí Noticias revealed that he was residing in Madrid on a student visa and was enrolled in the National Taxation Program for Professionals at IE Business School, with tuition exceeding 12,300 euros. The program includes subjects related to tax planning, tax controversies, and wealth advisory.
The commercial documentation now reveals an additional detail that was previously unknown: when her studies and life in Madrid became public, Anido was also the owner and manager of Meridian Wealth Group, a consulting firm aimed at international clients—particularly those from Latin America and the Caribbean—interested in establishing business and investment platforms in Europe.
There is no public information available that reveals what income he earned from that business activity, who paid for his studies, or how he financed his expenses in Spain.
His connections in Madrid with trusted lawyers of the Cuban regime
Anido Cuesta's activities in Spain have not been limited to his studies and his business. During his time in Madrid, he has also been seen alongside figures with a long history of representing the legal and economic interests of the Cuban state abroad.
In November 2024, Anido and actress Ana de Armas were photographed during an evening at the Numa Pompilio restaurant in Madrid alongside Cuban lawyers Rodolfo Dávalos Fernández and Lourdes Dávalos León, father and daughter. Both participated in representing Cuba in the litigation held in London regarding the debt claimed by the CRF I fund.
Rodolfo Dávalos has a career that spans several decades within the Cuban legal and business frameworks. He was the director of the International Law Firm, an advisor, and later served as the general director of Cubacán S.A., a Cuban-Spanish joint venture. He has also dealt with matters related to foreign investment, tourism, and international litigation.
He has also participated in some of the most politically significant legal cases for Havana. He was involved in the strategy concerning the five Cuban agents of the Wasp Network convicted in the United States and, decades later, played a relevant role in the Cuban defense during the London litigation. The official newspaper Granma emphasized his "essential work in the legal strategy of the case."
Dávalos also presides over the Cuban Court of International Commercial Arbitration and has developed a career over several decades related to commercial law, arbitration, and foreign investments.
Her daughter Lourdes also maintains strong professional ties with businesses related to Cuba. A Cuban-Spanish lawyer based in Madrid, she worked for years at Uría Menéndez, where she was involved in the firm's Cuban practice and in advising foreign investors interested in operations on the island.
He currently leads Dávalos Abogados, a law firm located in Madrid that specializes, among other areas, in transactions and investments related to Cuba. Rodolfo Dávalos serves as an honorary partner of the firm.
The office has also maintained professional relationships with legal entities on the island. In 2024, it formalized a collaboration program with the Specialized Services Law Firm and the National Organization of Collective Law Firms of Cuba, aimed at facilitating professional stays for Cuban lawyers in Madrid.
Anido Cuesta's social relationship with the Dávalos does not allow for any connection between these lawyers and Meridian Wealth Group, nor are there any elements suggesting that that dinner had a professional or business nature.
However, the meeting provides context regarding another aspect of the stepson of Díaz-Canel's stay in Spain: besides studying taxation and managing a consultancy focused on international business and investments, he has networked in Madrid with professionals who have been involved for decades in legal and business matters that are strategic for the Cuban state and its economic relations with Spain.
A figure close to Díaz-Canel but without a known public position
Anido Cuesta from the University of Havana in 2019 and has accompanied Díaz-Canel for years on numerous official delegations, even though no specific state position explaining his formal presence has been made public.
CiberCuba has documented his participation in trips and official events alongside the Cuban leader and Lis Cuesta, including international travels and high-level meetings.
In 2023, during a visit to the Vatican, Díaz-Canel himself introduced Anido to Pope Francis, stating: “He is Lis's son and works with me.”
However, Cuban authorities have not publicly detailed what position he holds or what institutional responsibilities justify his participation in official delegations.
That circumstance has raised questions for years about the role of the ruler's stepson within the presidential circle.
The United States sanctioned him after the company's disappearance
His residence in Madrid took on a new dimension in June 2026, when the Department of the Treasury of the United States included Anido Cuesta in the list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The U.S. record explicitly identifies him as a resident of Madrid, born in Holguín in 1994 and family-related to Lis Cuesta Peraza.
There is, however, an important time difference.
Meridian Wealth Group had been dissolved on January 20, 2026, nearly five months before Washington announced sanctions against Anido.
No evidence was found in the reviewed documents that connects the company's liquidation with the subsequent decision by the United States, hence both events must be treated separately.
A business facet that has been little known until now
Anido Cuesta's presence in Spain had primarily gained attention due to his studies, his residence in Madrid, his relationship with actress Ana de Armas, and his personal and political closeness to Díaz-Canel.
The official documents from the Commercial Registry now reveal another facet of his stay: for a considerable part of 2025, he was the owner and manager of a Spanish company specifically aimed at advising Latin American and Caribbean clients interested in developing businesses and investments in Europe.
The available documentation does not allow us to determine who hired their services, how much Meridian Wealth Group billed, or what operations it carried out. Furthermore, with the information available, there is no basis for attributing any unlawful activities to Anido Cuesta or Meridian Wealth Group.
However, this does not eliminate the questions raised by his business activities and standard of living in Spain, considering he is the stepson of the ruler of a country mired in a deep economic crisis, with high levels of poverty and where the majority of the population lacks access to similar opportunities.
His residence in an expensive area of central Madrid, a training course costing over 12,000 euros, the acquisition and control of a consultancy focused on international business and investment, and his years of participation in official Cuban delegations raise legitimate questions about the source of his resources, the nature of his professional activity, and the privileges enjoyed by the family environment of the ruling elite.
None of these elements, separately or collectively, constitute evidence of irregularity. However, they do gain significance from a transparency and public ethics perspective, particularly because the Cuban authorities have never clarified what position Anido holds, what remuneration he receives for the work that Díaz-Canel has acknowledged he performs alongside him, nor under what conditions he participates in official trips and activities.
Records do confirm that a person belonging to Díaz-Canel's immediate family environment, who has participated for years in official Cuban delegations without a clearly defined public position, has concurrently developed a private business activity in Madrid, which has been largely unknown to the public until now.
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