Nobody is Safe in Castro's Circle

November 24, 2010


During last March's hearing in the House Agriculture Committee, U.S. Congressman Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa) gleefully stated:

"I, too, have been down there, Mr. Presidents (of the American Farm Bureau and National Farmers Union), both of you. I appreciate that but assume that you know who Mr. Alvarez is. I spent a lot of time with him. I spent quite a bit of time with Mr. Castro. Sometimes we would be entertained. I can tell you about that a little bit."

Mr. Alvarez is Pedro Alvarez, the (now former) head of the Castro's food and trade monopoly, called Alimport.

As the only company in Cuba permitted to transact agricultural purchases from the U.S., Alvarez spent a lot of time wining and dining U.S. Governors, Senators, Congressmen and agri-business executives (while the Cuban people are repressed).

We hope Alvarez had a good time, for he's now been repeatedly detained and is being investigated for corruption.

In other words, he either stopped producing for the Castro brothers, or dipped his hand into their (absolute and whimsical) cut.