Federal authorities in Miami have announced the arrest of Adys Lastres Morera, whose brother leads a company with alleged strong connections to the Cuban government. This development was confirmed on Thursday.
Adys Lastres Morera was apprehended by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit. She is the sister of Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, who serves as the executive president of Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), according to a statement released by the agency.
The agency revealed that Lastres Morera’s permanent residency was revoked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday.
In a post on social media, Rubio explained his decision, stating that Lastres Morera had been managing real estate assets in Florida while simultaneously supporting Havana’s communist government.
Rubio described GAESA as a “financial conglomerate controlled by the Cuban military that diverts millions in aid meant for the Cuban populace for the regime’s benefit.”
Rubio has previously claimed that GAESA controls $18 billion in assets and dominates 70% of Cuba’s economy.
“They profit from hotels, construction, banks, stores and even from the money your relatives send you from the U.S. Everything, everything passes through their hands,” Rubio said Wednesday in a video recorded in Spanish that he said was directed at the Cuban people. “From those remittances, they retain a percentage, but from GAESA’s profits nothing reaches you.”
According to ICE, Lastres Morera entered the U.S. as a permanent resident on Jan. 13, 2023. But on Wednesday, it was determined she was eligible to be deported under Section 237 of the Immigration and Nationality Act because her continued presence in the U.S. undermined its “foreign policy objectives toward Cuba.”
Section 237 of the INA outlines criteria under which foreign nationals can be deported. It is the same authority under which Rubio and the Trump administration are attempting to deport Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist who was arrested following his participation in pro-Palestinian protests.
Lastres Morera will remain in ICE custody as she awaits removal proceedings, ICE said. Neither Rubio nor ICE have said if Lastres Morera has been or will be charged with any crimes.
The arrest comes one day after former Cuban leader Raúl Castro and five others were federally indicted in connection with the Cuban military’s fatal downing of two civilian planes in 1996 that killed four people.
The Trump administration has sought to put pressure on Cuba’s communist regime in recent months through tough sanctions and a blockade that have prevented oil and gas from reaching the island nation. That has prompted an energy crisis and several major blackouts. The U.S. recently offered Cuba $100 million in relief supplies, but said it must be distributed to the Cuban people through authorized charities.
Last week, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana to meet with senior Cuban officials.
