Meet the Facilitators of Cuba’s Oppression

Greed, corruption, and family ties

USS Elrod at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba | Department of Defense | Public Domain

Many wealthy businesspeople with familial ties to Cuba’s oppressive and corrupt society under U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista have spent a lot of money to ensure the Cuban people suffer for supporting the 1959 Revolution, then and now. The goal decades ago is the same as it is today: create nearly insurmountable economic conditions and starvation through lobbying for isolationist policies and funding various violent groups against the Cuban people – all with the support of the U.S. government.

Operations and terrorist attacks conducted by Cuban American hardliners over the last six decades have killed more than 3,400 Cubans combined and left more than 2,000 disabled. Groups such as the Alpha 66 paramilitary group, founded in the 1960s, the Omega 7 paramilitary group, founded in the 1980s, and other groups since have waged countless violent attacks against Cuba to achieve right-wing political aims on the island. For example, Alpha 66 was active into the mid-1990s, implementing a strategy that involved drive-by shootings on tourist beaches in Cuba.

Similarly, the recent attempted attack by boat was organized publicly on social media. I reported on these groups and identified the people behind them. Their public recruitment efforts and planning over more than two years highlight how authorities in the U.S. were likely aware of them and chose to look away, as they have historically done with these terrorist groups.

In this article, we’ll look at the facilitators of Cuba’s suffering.

The Sugar Barons

Sugar barons, such as the Fanjul family, have funded the political campaigns of many candidates on both sides of the aisle to achieve their aims, including locking in subsidies for their businesses. In 2016, they hosted fundraisers in Miami for both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The Fanjul family founded Domino Sugar and Florida Crystals, the latter of which was accused of polluting Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades in Florida.

The Fanjul brothers splitting their funding and loyalty, with Alfonso “Alfy” Fanjul Jr. supporting the Democratic Party and José “Pepe” Fanjul supporting the Republican Party, ensures that they are involved in both parties’ political agenda. The brothers’ differing views converge with Cuba. The two are widely regarded as the architects behind the anti-Cuba lobby in the U.S. Congress. The financial backing offered by the Fanjuls transcends simply backing candidates.

As major financial backers of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) and the U.S-Cuba Democracy PAC, the Fanjuls target specific congressional campaigns alongside lobbying for the economic embargo of Cuba. Their backing bolstered the Helms-Burton Act in 1996, which codified sanctions against Cuba into U.S law, deeply restricting actions by any given president who is willing to normalize relations with the island. The brothers are credited with launching Marco Rubio’s Senate tenure and are embedded within the current presidency.

The Fanjul dynasty was built through inherited wealth from slave labor and the marriage of two Spanish-led companies in Cuba that fought against the abolition of slavery. After slavery was abolished in 1886, the companies not only bought the old plantation infrastructure, but they also relied on it. This allowed these companies to continue employing exploitative labor practices such as indentured servitude and debt peonage until the 1959 Revolution. Many of the exploited in the post-slavery era were migrants from Jamaica, Haiti, and China.

In 2022, the Fanjul brothers were in the spotlight for similar labor practices after investigative reporting prompted a congressional delegation to visit the Dominican Republic to validate the reported exploitative labor conditions in the sugar industry. They found that Central Romana Corporation, partially owned by the Fanjul brothers, was using forced labor, again targeting Haitian migrant workers. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) then banned imports of sugar originating from Central Romana’s plantations in the Dominican Republic.

Trump lifted that ban in 2025.

The Rum Barons

The other side of the sugar baron coin is the Bacardi Family. Facundo Bacardí Massó founded the Bacardi rum company in Cuba in 1862, two decades before Spain abolished slavery. Bacardi amassed great wealth through cheap molasses produced with slave labor. While not a plantation owner, the company manufactured its products with a heavy reliance on the exploited labor of the sugar industry. The company was allegedly participating in similar practices as recently as 2015 in its Central American sugar cane supply chain.

However, before the revolution, Bacardi backed many progressive causes and at one point was close to Fidel Castro’s Revolution. Bacardi Chairman at the time, Pepin Bosch, spent tens of thousands of dollars helping arm Castro’s rebels. When the Cuban government nationalized its properties, the Bacardi family would turn on Castro. Bacardi, which had for years been expanding through independent companies outside Cuba due to targeting by the Batista regime, remained quite wealthy and powerful after the Revolution.

That wealth was later used not only to lobby for oppressive policies, such as the aforementioned Helms-Burton Act (aka the Bacardi Act), but also to allegedly finance violent groups and attacks on Cuba, including plans to bomb Cuba’s oil refineries. Through its Bacardi Family Foundation, money from U.S. government institutions responsible for several coups d’état, such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), reaches various Anti-Cuba groups throughout the Cuban diaspora.

The ties between wealthy Cuban businesspeople and manufacturing support for war with Cuba have a long history. In 1963, the House Select Committee on Assassinations looked into any possible connections between anti-Castro groups and John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The report, which doesn’t reach a definitive conclusion, highlights just how historically connected Bacardi, the CIA, and many violent anti-Castro groups are.

Robber Barons

The Diaz-Balart family built somewhat of a political dynasty in the United States on the foundations of its political life in Cuba. Rafael José Díaz-Balart was a prominent politician, former judge, and mayor of Banes, Cuba, and his son, Rafael Lincoln Díaz-Balart, served as a legislator and President of the Senate under U.S.-backed Cuban President and dictator, Fulgencio Batista. Their loyalties to the Batista regime during its killing of more than 20,000 people who opposed him in the streets culminated in Cubans looting and burning the family’s homes during the Revolution, while the family was in Paris.

Rafael José’s children were raised in Spain and lived privileged lives. They went on to be prominent lawmakers, with one, José Díaz-Balart, becoming a well-known media personality for NBC News. Mario Rafael Díaz-Balart is currently serving as the Republican representative for Florida’s 26th congressional district. Lincoln Rafael Díaz-Balart, who passed away in March, was the Republican representative for Florida’s 21st congressional district from 1993 to 2011. Before that, he served in the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate.

Despite seemingly having somewhat differing views, like others mentioned here, Cuba is where the brothers’ views converge, and all rational thought and facts are tossed aside in favor of hyperbole. All have supported the continued collective punishment of Cubans on the island and have stood silent or called for more aggressive action during the current oil blockade. Thus, it represents the duplicity in claiming to care for millions of Cubans while advocating for their suffering.

Republican representative for Florida’s 28th district, Carlos Gimenez, whose family fled Cuba when he was 5, comes from a prominent family of cattle ranchers and landowners. They managed extensive agricultural operations from a condominium in Havana, creating resentment in Cuba’s eastern Oriente Province, where the bulk of the family’s businesses were located. Gimenez’s father attended the prestigious Belen school in Havana and inherited the highly profitable ranching operation, providing his family with an affluent lifestyle.

Republican representative for Florida’s 27th district, Maria Elvira Salazar, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are informed by what Rubio referred to as “family lore” when a family lie about his family fleeing the Castro regime was exposed by historical data. It turns out that Rubio’s family fled after being targeted by the brutal Batista regime. The same regime that the Diaz Balart family was deeply ingrained in.

While others may be motivated by fabricated stories and political beliefs, prominent families want retribution. Not only do the Bacardi, Fanjul, Diaz Balart, and Gimenez families want to be compensated for what they allege is an injustice, but so do mob boss heirs. Meyer Lansky’s grandson once sought $8 million in compensation for the mobster’s nationalized Habana Riviera Hotel. It’s all as outlandish as it sounds.

Conclusion

There’s a lot of money and power behind the anti-Cuba lobby in Washington, D.C., and it has a profound impact on policy decisions within both political parties. It’s not just Cuba either. Their impact can be seen across a host of issues, from policing and immigration to foreign affairs and resource allocation, often disproportionately benefiting Cuban immigrants in Miami, and Marco Rubio himself has kindly pointed out many times in the past.

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Arturo is an independent freelance journalist. He has written hundreds of articles on policing, immigration, race, and Latin America. His work has been featured in outlets such as Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, Latino Rebels, and more. Arturo is also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support his work, become a paid subscriber or donate via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App.