A Miami Herald investigation that revealed that a Cuban military conglomerate is holding billions in secret dollar reserves amid the ongoing collapse of the economy shows the island’s armed services have created a network large of companies that tap into almost every string of foreign revenue entering the island.

Secret financial documents obtained by the Herald show that GAESA, the military’s umbrella company that has a multitude of subsidiaries, had $18 billion in current assets as of March 2024, most of it deposited in unknown bank accounts.

The Herald obtained more than 20 financial statements from GAESA’s internal accounting system for March and August 2024. The Herald also obtained a PowerPoint presentation with financial information from Cimex’s, the largest holding company under the umbrella.

Financial statements for March and August last year, titled “Balance de datos” (Data Balance) and “Estado de Resultados por Conceptos ”(roughly translated as income statement by concept), identify 25 companies in the conglomerate, grouped into three categories: state enterprises, “international economic associations,” and mipymes, the Spanish acronym for micro, small, and medium enterprises.

The Cuban government uses the “international economic associations” category to authorize contracts with foreign firms to manage Cuban hotels, exploit natural resources and similar partnerships. It may involve the creation of new companies in a “joint venture” or just a contract for services.

Cimex’s presentation mentioned six of its companies, though most were not named.

Some of the companies named in the documents obtained by the Herald have not been previously identified as being part of GAESA. That includes Aries S.A., the company that operates the cruise terminal in Havana, which was used by several cruise companies taking U.S. travelers to the island between 2016 and 2019.

Cimex is believed to be the island’s largest commercial corporation, with businesses in several sectors including international trade, retail, tourism, banking, transportation, logistics and real estate among others.

According to a 2020 research paper authored by a Cimex analyst, the holding had 41 enterprises at the time. It also operated 668 gas stations around the country in 2020, according to the declaration of its legal director, Mali Suris Valmaña, in a U.S. court case involving a lawsuit filed by Exxon against Cimex.

In her declaration, Valmaña spilled the beans regarding Cimex’s true ownership: the Cuban company is owned by Corporación CIMEX, S.A, registered in Panama.

GAESA and many of its companies, including Cimex, are under U.S. sanctions, though several mentioned in the documents are not.

Here is the list of the companies named in the documents obtained by the Herald:

International economic associations

•Monte Barreto, a real estate company that owns and operates the Miramar Trade Center, an office and retail building complex in Havana in a joint venture with Ceiba Investments Ltd, a company registered in the Isle of Guernsey, a tax haven.

•Azul Inmobiliaria, a real estate company that manages condominiums in partnership with an Italian company, BD International.

•Logística Hotelera del Caribe (LHC), a joint venture based at the special development zone in Mariel that sells food and supplies to hotels in Cuba.

State enterprises

•Complejo de Museos Históricos Militares, (Military History Museum Complex), an enterprise that manages the Museum of Revolution, the Morro Castle and the Cabaña fortress in Havana.

•Comercializadora de Aceite Ecasol (Ecasol Oil Marketing Company), a cooking oil commercialization company.

•Comercializadora de Aceite Ecasol (Ecasol Oil Marketing Company), a cooking oil commercialization company.

•Empresa de Servicios Generales de la Marina (Maritime General Services Company). The Herald could not find public information about this company.

•Empresa de Servicios Ingenieros Dirección Integrada de Proyectos Mariel (Mariel Integrated Project Management Engineering Services Company), a company handling port, logistics, infrastructure and building projects at the special development zone in Mariel.

•Empresa Inmobiliaria Almest, a real estate company investing in hotels.

•Empresa Importadora Tecnotex, (Technical Products Importer and Exporter Company, also known as Tecnoimport), a company mired in an alleged corruption scandal in 2011.

•Empresa TRD-Caribe, one of the island’s largest hard currency stores chain.

•Aerogaviota S.A., an airline flying tourists.

•Almacenes Universales S.A., a logistics company that handles operations at the port of Mariel.

•Corporación Antex S.A., (previously known as Corporación Antillana de Exportaciones, SA), a corporation contracting doctors and managing businesses in Angola.

•Cubagro S.A. (also known as Empresa Comercializadora y Exportadora de Productos Agropecuarios y Agroindustriales, S.A.) is an importer and exporter of agricultural products, which functions as an intermediary for private enterprises importing food products.

•Exploración y Extracción de Petróleo y Gas S.A (Oil and Gas Exploration and Extraction S.A.). The Herald could not find public information about a company with this name. A similarly named company (Unión de Exploración, Perforación y Extracción de Petróleo) merged with Union del Combustible in 1992 to create CUPET, Cuba’s main oil company.

•Grupo de Turismo Gaviota S.A., GAESA’s flagship tourism company

•Inmobiliaria Caribe S.A., a real estate company providing “rental services in prime areas of the capital,” according to its Facebook profile.

•Servicios Marítimos S.A. (Maritime Services S.A.). The Herald could not find public data about a company with this name. Cuba’s Communist Party newspaper Granma reported last year that a new Cuban company named Servicios Marítimos Mariel S.A. operating at the special development zone in Mariel, would offer customs services, processing of manifests and supplies to ships and crews at the port of Mariel.

•Servicios Automotores S.A., a company importing and selling cars and car parts.

•Servicios de Auditoría S.A., a company providing auditing services with its main office in Miramar, in Havana.

•Aries, a company that operates the cruise terminal in the port of Havana. It was previously believed to be affiliated with GEMAR, a holding company part of the Ministry of Transportation.

•Empresa Importadora y Exportadora de Productos Técnicos (Technical Products Importer and Exporter Company, also known as Tecnoimport), a company sued by Russian truckmaker Ural for non-payments.

•Cementos Moncada, a new cement factory built last year in Santiago de Cuba. The administration of the plant was offered as an investment project in 2021, according to a document by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment.

Micro, small and medium enterprises

•Agencia Importadora Caribe Surl, an importer company.

•Publicitaria Grafo Caribe Surl, an advertising company. Both are linked to TRD Caribe, the store chain, the documents show.

Cimex companies

•Cimex Mariel, a company based in the Mariel Special Development Zone that produces and sells coffee under the brands Cubita and Caracolillo.

•Fincimex, Financiera CIMEX, a company handling remittances and credit cards transactions in Cuba.

•Inmobiliaria Cimex S.A., a real estate company.

•Zelcom S.A. ( Zona Especializada de Logística y Comercio, ZELCOM S.A), a free trade zone near Havana.

•Residencial Tarará S.A., a lodging and rentals company.

•Aster S.A., an information technology company offering “applications, technology and network solutions,” according to its profile on Facebook.

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