Rafin, S.A. = Raul & Fidel, Inc.

February 7, 2011

BY: CAPITOL HILL CUBANS

Tragically, this is not a joke.

Last week, we posted that Telecom Italia re-sold its 27% stake in the Castro regime's telecom monopoly, ETECSA, to the Cuban military for $706 million.

The transaction was completed by Rafin, S.A., which we noted was a financial arm of the Cuban military.

We also noted that in May 2010, Rafin, S.A., had created a joint venture with the secretive, South Pacific Holdings, Ltd., which is believed to be controlled by Russian finance players.

Little else had been known about Rafin, S.A. -- until now.

It turns out Rafin, S.A. stands for "Raul and Fidel Investments" ("Raul y Fidel Inversiones").

According to Juan Juan Almeida (in Diario de Cuba), son of recently deceased Cuban Vice-President (and 3rd highest ranking official of the Castro regime), General Juan Almeida Bosque, the abbreviation was concocted by the Castro brothers during a cocktail party with other military officials at an exclusive residence in Havana.

The remaining 73% of ETECSA is also owned by front-companies of the Castro brothers.

They are:

Telefónica Antillana S.A with 51%, Universal Trade & Management Corporation S,A (Utisa) with 11%, Banco Financiero Internacional with 6.15%, Negocios en Telecomunicaciones with 3.8% and Banco Internacional de Comercio with 0.9%

Lessons to be learned:

For lawmakers -- the more money that is sent to Cuba's totalitarian economy is the more money the Castro brothers will have to repress and censor the Cuban people.

For foreign companies -- business deals with the Castro brothers are not profitable in the long-term.

For "Cuba experts" and the Obama Administration (that argue travel and remittances will somehow help the Cuban people become "independent" of the regime, despite its closed economy) -- that policy has a zero-sum (if not outright negative effect), as it frees up resources for the Castro brothers to deploy on even more repression and censorship.

Cuba's kleptocracy at its finest.