Owner of a successful business in Las Vegas, Jorge Javier Rodríguez Cabrera is in deportation proceedings.
14ymedio, Havana, 22 July 2025 — Jorge Javier Rodríguez Cabrera was arrested this Monday in Las Vegas by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He is a former Cuban official with close ties to the regime’s elite, particularly Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, known as ” El Cangrejo,” [The Crab] the grandson of General Raúl Castro and his personal bodyguard.
According to information reported by Mario J. Pentón in Martí Noticias, Rodríguez was placed in expedited deportation proceedings, meaning he could be returned to Cuba within days. His ex-wife and children already have permanent residency in the U.S., but after a year of keeping a low profile, he reappeared with a business venture that has raised suspicions.
Rodríguez arrived in the United States in 2022 through the southern border, accompanied by his wife and minor children, and requested political asylum.]]
The report published by the Cuban-American media outlet indicated that Rodríguez arrived in the United States in 2022 through the southern border, accompanied by his wife and minor children, and requested political asylum. At first glance, he was just another migrant fleeing the situation in Cuba. However, his diplomatic history told a different story. He had worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the diplomatic mail section, and had been photographed alongside Raúl Castro and El Cangrejo during the 2015 official visit to New York. Another image of him briefly circulated on social media in 2021, when he attended a baseball game in a US stadium. His closeness to the highest circles of the Castro regime was clear.
In November 2024, he founded Gran Azul LLC, a company registered in the state of Nevada dedicated to door-to-door shipping, logistics, tour packages to Cuba, and the sale of automobiles and food products. Official documents list him as the company’s manager, along with the name Marcel Blanco Fernández. In a short time, Gran Azul deployed an aggressive marketing strategy and established a presence in key cities including Miami, Orlando, Houston, and Phoenix. On its social media, the business promotes itself as a fast and reliable solution for Cubans in the diaspora seeking to help their families on the island. But behind this commercial facade lie long-standing ties to power.
Rodríguez shared with ’El Cangrejo’ luxuries unthinkable for any ordinary Cuban.
Rodríguez was not only a close friend of El Cangrejo, but also shared luxuries unthinkable for any ordinary Cuban. In 2023, América TeVé released a video showing the two sailing on a yacht, drinking and eating lobster, in the company of their respective partners. The scene was recorded during one of Raúl Castro’s grandson’s frequent visits to foreign waters. In Cuba, access to private boats is reserved for a select few, and the images sparked outrage among many emigrants.
Sources close to the former official’s family explained that the friendship between Rodríguez and El Cangrejo continued even after the relationship between their respective wives ended.
Despite his visibility, Rodríguez always avoided the press. He never responded to interview requests, and after his arrest, his Instagram account disappeared. The silence surrounding the case has contributed to increasing concerns about the true origin of the funds used to build the company and its possible connection to Cuban power structures.
Many of the shipping companies to the island operate as fronts for businesses linked to the regime.
Experts on the subject have warned that many of the shipping companies to the island operate as fronts for businesses linked to the regime. The case of Tuambia, linked to the brother of former Deputy Prime Minister Jorge Luis Perdomo, is just one example of how these ventures can disappear or transform following a shift in the balance of power.
Rodríguez’s arrest raises the usual questions in such cases. Was this an attempt to penetrate the US economy using Castro’s influence networks? Who backed his business? How many others, like him, present themselves as exiles when they could be operating in the interests of the regime?
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