Explainer: GAESA’s Role in Cuba’s Economy and Why It Is Central to U.S.-Cuba Tensions
GAESA, a military-managed conglomerate formed in the 1990s and overseen by Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces, controls extensive assets across tourism, banking, ports, retail and remittances. U.S. officials have singled it out for alleged hoarding of profits and enrichment of a small elite, while the Cuban state offers limited public accounting and…