Raul Castro’s Grandson’s Mafia Links in Mexico Exposed
A New York Times article claims that Raul Castro’s grandson, alias El Cangrejo, aided an organization that stole boats in Florida to transport Cuban migrants to the United States.
HAVANA TIMES – Raul Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, known as El Cangrejo and the grandson of Raul Castro, appears linked to a network of the Cuban Mafia in Quintana Roo, southeastern Mexico. His name was mentioned by Jose Miguel Gonzalez Vidal, a member of the organization, who was sentenced in 2023 to 25 years in prison in the United States.
The connection was reported this Tuesday in an extensive article published by The New York Times. The article notes that Raul Rodriguez – currently considered a key figure in conversations with Washington – has not been formally charged with any illicit connections.
Miguel Gonzalez, 38, one of at least six members of the Cuban criminal group who pleaded guilty in the United States, testified that he gave Raul Castro’s grandson a boat, as well as a Rolex watch, a Suzuki motorcycle, and Louis Vuitton clothing. According to court records, the gifts were in exchange for allowing the illicit goods the group purchased in Mexico with stolen credit cards to pass through Cuban customs.
The Cuban government described the allegations involving Raul Rodriguez Castro as “slander.” El Cangrejo did not respond to the Times’ requests for comment.
The claim that they gave a boat to Raul Castro’s grandson takes on particular significance because of the role that boats and other stolen property played in the activities attributed to the Cuban Mafia in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
David Bolton, a veteran private investigator quoted by the newspaper, describes the group as “the real pirates of the Caribbean” and “ruthless killers.” The organization was primarily involved in trafficking thousands of migrants from Cuba to Mexico, and ultimately to the United States. To do so, the Times reported, the mafia stole luxury boats and marine equipment “for years,” dating back to at least 2009, from cities along Florida’s southwest coast, from Sarasota to Naples and Marco Island.
Through Operation Sisyphus, a special task force involving the FBI and Homeland Security spent more than 10 years investigating the group’s activities. Through their findings, the US Department of Justice was able to link the Florida boat thefts to human smuggling from the Island. In 2020, it brought charges against several Cubans based in Mexico for clandestinely trafficking “thousands of migrants” out of Cuba.
According to prosecutors, they charged around $10,000 for the journey. Those who could not pay were held captive in Mexico and were “tortured with stun guns, and their families were extorted.” Court documents further indicate that some women were forced to work in strip clubs, the US newspaper reported.
“We administered physical punishment,” Reynaldo Crespo Marquez, one of the smugglers, admitted in 2023, after pleading guilty in Miami federal court. “Sometimes they were beaten with a wooden board or a Taser.”
The US Department of Justice claims that members of the mafia contacted the migrants’ relatives, threatening to torture, starve, and kill the victims if their families refused to pay. Those who did pay were sent by bus to the US-Mexico border and instructed on how to apply for political asylum.
Authorities were able to document around 25 people who died during the journeys. Among the migrants smuggled by the organization were professional baseball players, including shortstop Adeiny Hechavarría, who played for several Major League Baseball teams from 2012 to 2020, and Los Angeles Dodgers batter Yasiel Puig.
Another business exploited by the Cuban Mafia involved purchasing merchandise with stolen credit cards and smuggling it into Cuba to be sold in the government stores. This is the operation in which Raul Rodriguez is alleged to have played a vital role.
Members of the criminal organization also trafficked boats, cars, and trucks. Some of these were used as bribes, as in the case of Raul Castro’s grandson, while others were sold to pay off foreign officials, according to the documents.
The latest blow to the group came in April, when a key financier of the Quintana Roo organization was arrested. Remigio Valdez Lao, 59, known as El Milo, was considered a “priority target,” by Mexico’s Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection. He was the subject of an extradition order to the United States on charges of human smuggling and organized crime.
According to the Mexican government report, El Milo was located while security agents were conducting patrols in the Residencial Arbolada development in the municipality of Benito Juarez, on the Caribbean coast. Valdez was with Joseline Garcia, an alleged member of the same group, from whom authorities seized marijuana and a pickup truck.
First published in Spanish by 14ymedio and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.
That’s why family reign even in a socialist regime should not be there. Power usually corrupts people. We must adopt the principles of Mao and his wife such as cultural revolution. It is not only required for a stable society but is a necessity.