Official documents filtered to Martí News reveal that in that period Castro’s granddaughter made at least five trips to New York with the approval of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba (Minrex) and the approval of US immigration authorities, during the administration of Barack Obama.
The leaks – one of the most significant of official Cuban documents in years – shed light on the privileges of the Castro elite, particularly from the general’s grandchildren, who, unlike millions of Cubans, have traveled to the United States without restrictions and others to the reach of US sanctions.
In 2012, Café Fuerte reported one of Rodríguez Castro’s trips to New York. At that time, the then Cuban American congressman Ros-Lehtinen and the former State Secretary for Hemispheric Affairs, Elliott Abrams, threw strong criticism after the news. However, Raúl Castro’s granddaughter continued traveling to the United States.
Diplomatic passports and “cultural trips”
The Minrex documents detail that Vilma Rodríguez traveled to the US on at least five occasions between 2012 and 2016 claiming participation in cultural events such as art exhibitions, international fairs and presentations.
In each case, the Minrex managed diplomatic visas invoking security reasons for its kinship with the then Cuban ruler, dictator Raúl Castro.
“In Cuba, the use of diplomatic passports is not only reserved for officials in official missions. Family members of senior leaders are also granted for ‘National Security’ reasons, which allows them to avoid ordinary migratory controls,” said Cuban journalist and researcher Miguel Cossío.
Invitation letters came from institutions such as The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation and Cuban Artists Fundwhich guaranteed to cover all the expenses of Rodríguez Castro, including transport and lodging. Both organizations assured in their invitations that the funds did not come from public resources. Until the closing of this report, neither responded to the requests for commenting on Martí News made in previous days.
In July 2016, Rodríguez Castro traveled accompanied by his youngest son, who also used diplomatic passport. Both entered the country through the New York airport to participate in an activity sponsored by the Cuban Artists Fund. Miami artists who were at the event told Martí News that Raúl Castro’s granddaughter was guarded by officials of the Cuban diplomatic headquarters in New York.
Official US response
The US Department of State said he would not talk about who traveled to the US a decade ago, but offered some statements.
“The hypocrisy of the Cuban regime is well known worldwide and by their own people. While the Cuban people suffer hunger, they live more and more without electricity and survive in extreme poverty, regime officials, their families and the Cuban elite continue to live with luxuries, including frequent trips abroad,” said a spokesperson.
“The Trump administration has done more than any other in the history of the United States to demand responsibilities to the Cuban regime for its atrocious behavior, partly revoking the migratory status of officials and former officials of the regime, their relatives and human rights violators in Cuba,” he added.
The US took the occasion to invite its allies to take similar actions.
The intimate circle of power
Rodríguez Castro is married to the self -taught artist Arles del Río, whose works have been exhibited in New York and at the Art Basel Fair in Miami. However, she did not attend the 2019 sample in Miami, which caused the rejection of the exiled community.
Arles del Río has benefited from important scholarships in the US such as Vermont Studio Center, in 2013, and Cuban Artists Fund, in 2014, which offered financial support, space for creation and professional legitimation in international art circuits.
In 2014, Diario de Cuba denounced that the regime granted Arles del Río a large premises on 12th Street of Vedado to establish its gallery-study.
An artist linked to the official cultural circuit defined him as follows: “He is the type of creator who plays with the chain, but not with the monkey. He had links with Raúl Castro even before marrying his daughter. Being a son -in -law of Raúl opens many doors.”
The sanctions do not reach grandchildren
In September 2020, the US government sanctioned the four children of Raúl Castro – including Deborah Castro Espín, mother of Vilma Rodríguez – for its close relationship with the repressive apparatus of the regime and the benefits obtained from the system.
That same month, the late Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Callejas, former despair of Déborah Castro, father of Vilma and his brother Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, known for his nickname “El Cangrejo”, a man of enormous power in Cuba, was sanctioned.
Rodríguez López-Callejas, Brigade General, controlled the Cuban military business apparatus. He died in 2022 and his heirs retain a good part of the power built by his father and grandfather.
However, until today, none of the dictator’s grandchildren has been included in the lists of the Department of Treasury or the State Department. Nor have the direct descendants of Fidel Castro be.
Recently, Rodríguez Castro was again the center of the controversy after being revealed in cybercuba that leases a luxurious mansion in the exclusive Miramar cast, in Havana, through the Airbnb platform. The property, called Casa Vida Luxury Holidays, was rented for $ 650 a night.
After the complaints published by independent means, the US government included the management of the mansion in the list of entities forbidden for US citizens.
