The Cuban regime would have arbitrarily closed the Diplomarket store, the so-called “Cuban Costco”and arrested its owner, the Cuban-American businessman Frank Cuspinera.
The independent medium Scissors published a complaint according to which the owner of Diplomarket has been incommunicado since June 20, 2024, when military forces intervened in his company.
Sources confirmed to CyberCuba that the business was intervened without prior notice and under accusations of tax evasion, currency trafficking and money laundering.
Cuspinera, who also directs TCC Las Américas Importadora Exportadora in the United States, had managed to successfully establish itself in Cuba since 2013offering products through its Diplomat platform.
However, his economic success seems to have made him a target for the Castro regime, the publication notes.
The authorities waited until closing time on June 20 to raid his company and confiscate all of his assets, in a sale that they themselves had previously authorized, the post explains. For this they used military personnel and members of the military conglomerate GAESA.
The situation worsened the day after the arrest of Cuspinera and his wife, Camila, when the authorities began to distribute the confiscated assets among the members of the Castro leadership, the publication details.
According to sources close to the case, this type of abuse is not isolated. This month they celebrated judicial controls for other entrepreneurs who have been unjustly imprisoned for a year. Although some obtained bail or freedom by decision of a judge, those decisions were revoked the same day by the Cuban military, evidencing the lack of justice and respect for the law in the country, the note adds.
Cuspinera’s case reflects a repetitive pattern where the regime attacks those who try to create opportunities and prosperity outside of state control, the publication highlights, which emphasizes that numerous businessmen are being investigated or unjustly detained simply for trying to improve the lives of Cubans through the creation of jobs and better living conditions.
Last year The Cuban regime denied that a Costco supermarket exists in Havana; and he stated that it was a business belonging to a MSME.
Patrick Oppmanncorrespondent of cnn, He showed with amazement images of what he described as “the first Cotsco in Cuba” in October 2023, and warned that not everyone could afford the very high prices of the store where payments are accepted in CUP, USD and euros.
Las Américas TCC, a company directed by Cuspinera, was in charge of supplying the so-called “Cuban Costco”, inaugurated at the end of 2022.
When the Oppmann report came out, the independent portal 14ymedio He visited the business, and was able to see the strong surveillance to which it was subjected.
The publication explained that in a first booth they took the vehicle data along with the entry time, and further on there was another guarded booth before entering the store, whose owner was not known at that time, since the signature was not in the store. list of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) approved by the Ministry of Economy and Planning.
The newspaper verified that the businessman had been domiciled in the United States and that he currently resided in Vedado, in Havana.
His name appeared in a letter that several Cuban entrepreneurs sent to the American president, Joe Bidento ask him to lift the sanctions against the Government of Cuba that were harming his businesses.
