ICE detains in Miami sister of head of GAESA, the military firm that runs Cuba’s economy

The Trump administration detained in Miami on Thursday the sister of the top Cuban official who heads the multi-billion-dollar military conglomerate that runs most of Cuba’s economy, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced on Thursday.

ICE said in a press statement that Adys Lastres Morera was taken into custody after the State Department revoked her green card, saying she represented a threat to national security.

Lastres Morera is the sister of Gen. Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, who runs the umbrella group known as GAESA that is part of the Cuban military. A 2025 Miami Herald investigation found that the Cuban military has an estimated $18 billion dollars in GAESA’s accounts as the country’s economic collapses and its population lives through a humanitarian crisis.

“Allowing Lastres Morera to remain in the country would send a signal that Cuban regime-affiliated networks could continue to access the U.S.’s financial, educational and social institutions — but that is not the case,” John Condon, acting executive associate director of Homeland Security Investigations, said in a statement.

In a separate statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Lastres Morera’s detention.

“For far too long, the family members of terrorist organizations, repressive anti-American regimes and other bad actors who would threaten the national security of the United States have been given a free pass to enjoy the privileges of living in the United States,” Rubio said. “Let me be very clear: if you threaten the national security of the United States, there will be nowhere on this earth – much less in our country – that you and your cronies can live lavishly. We will find you, and we will hold you accountable.

During a message on social media commemorating Cuba’s Independence Day on Wednesday, Rubio singled out GAESA for criticism, saying that it is hoarding profits and is actually in control of Cuba. He slammed it again on Thursday as the financial vehicle that allows a “small circle of regime elites to plunder all the remaining resources of the island.”

Rubio said Lastres Morera was “managing real estate and living in Florida, while also aiding Havana’s communist regime.” A Miami Herald analysis of public records show that she was the registered agent or manager for at least two Florida-based companmies. One is Sta Elena Investments LLC and the other is Remas Investments LLC, according to Florida’s Department of State website. The principal place of business for Remas Investments is an office building in the Kendall area. For both these companies, Lastres Morera had a residential address listed in Clearwater. ICE said that she became a permanent green card holder in 2023 and that she is now slated for deportation. It’s unclear at which ICE facility she’s being held at this time.

Marti Noticias first reported that Lastres Morera was the sister of the head of GAESA in March and that her son had legally brought her to the United States. Before coming to Florida, Lastres Morera used to rent out properties in Cuba, Marti Noticias said, and had some tourist rentals in Havana listed on Airbnb. Marti Noticias is a U.S.-government funded website and broadcaster directed towards Cuba.

READ MORE: Rubio to Cubans: U.S. offers path out of crisis, says military firm stands in the way

The development comes as the United States puts pressure on Havana to negotiate political and economic reforms and President Donald Trump hints at the possibility of regime change. On Wednesday, federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment for murder against Raúl Castro for his involvement in the 1996 shoot-down of two unarmed planes from Miami on a humanitarian mission to rescue Cuban migrants lost at sea. Castro, brother of Fidel Castro, was defense minister of Cuba at the time. Raul Castro, who will turn 95 in June, is still the ultimate authority on the island.

As part of its mass deportation policies, the Trump administration has revoked visas of relatives of people it says have ties to foreign governments that do not have good relationships with the United States.

In April, the State Department announced it had revoked the residency status of Seyed Eissa Hashemi, an Iranian green-card holder who was the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar, the spokesperson for the students who stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, leading to the Iranian hostage crisis during the Carter administration. The government said that it had also detained Hashemi’s wife and son. The U.S. has been in a direct military conflict with Iran since February, when the Trump administration launched an operation that killed its longtime octogenarian leader.

This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 7:45 PM.