SLP, Mexico – Leaked documents obtained by the Miami Herald reveal that the Cuban military, which controls GAESA, the regime’s business conglomerate, has billions of dollars stored in bank accounts, while the Cuban people suffer from shortages of medical supplies, basic goods, and hunger.
Financial records obtained by the Miami Herald show that Gaviota, the company that manages tourist hotels, holds over $4.261 billion in bank accounts.
That figure, according to the report, is nearly 13 times the $339 million the government claims it needs annually to purchase medicine for the Cuban population.
In terms of assets, Gaviota holds approximately 88.6 billion pesos, including 51 billion pesos in “long-term or permanent investments.” The company has declared 16.6 billion pesos in “net equity.”
Is It the Embargo?
Although the regime blames the U.S. embargo for the systemic crisis in the country, the documents show that GAESA has sufficient income to meet the population’s needs.
The information also reveals that Almest, another company under the GAESA conglomerate, which focuses on hotel construction, received 668 million pesos from the state budget, to the detriment of sectors like Health and Education.
In “state/public sector” investments, Almest reported 4.7 billion pesos as part of its capital. However, it only declared two million pesos in taxes and contributions to the state budget.
Even though the regime lacks the liquidity to pay its debts to various countries, Almest reportedly received a loan from foreign sources to build hotels and is paying it off over the long term, amounting to 45 billion Cuban pesos (about $1.8 billion).
In terms of assets, the company declared 56.5 billion pesos, including 20 billion in permanent investments in “buildings and constructions” and 50 billion pesos in liabilities.
While the country collapses, the government continues diverting money to its companies
“GAESA keeps this financial information secret and even shields its accounts from government auditors, which makes the revelations in these documents even more significant. The documents cast doubt on the government’s claims that it lacks money to alleviate the growing humanitarian crisis,” reads the Miami Herald report.
Tourism, regarded by officials as the “locomotive of the Cuban economy,” continues to serve as justification for pouring massive sums of money into a sector that has not returned to its pre-pandemic figures.
Cuban economist Pedro Monreal called the regime’s continued use of this term to describe the tourism industry a lie and a delusion, claiming it only serves to explain the government’s “outrageous” investment policy.
“They lie shamelessly. There isn’t a single Cuban official statistic that supports such a delusion. They’re trying to justify the outrageous investment policy that has neglected food security, infrastructure, and basic services,” Monreal wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Under the narrative that tourism is the foundation of the Cuban economy, the regime injects large amounts of money into the sector. This year, the Cuban government doubled its investment in hotels and restaurants.
If 2.325 billion pesos were invested in these sectors between January and June 2023, during the same period in 2024, that figure rose to 4.931 billion pesos, representing a 112% increase, according to official figures.
In the Business Services, Real Estate, and Rental Activities sector, which includes hotel construction, 11.389 billion pesos were allocated, accounting for 26.4% of the total budget.
Hotels and restaurants (11.4%), along with the aforementioned sector (26.4%), and the Manufacturing Industry (19.5%), together account for more than 50% of the country’s total investments.
Sigue nuestro canal de WhatsApp. Recibe la información de CubaNet en tu celular a través de Telegram.
