Owner of Diplomarket Missing After Store Shutdown in Cuba

The Cuban regime has allegedly shut down the Diplomarket store, a business known as the "Cuban Costco," and detained its owner, a Cuban-American entrepreneur named Frank Cuspinera. The independent outlet La Tijera reported that the owner of Diplomarket has been incommunicado since June 20, 2024, when military forces intervened in his business.

Sources confirmed to CiberCuba that the business was seized without prior notice and under accusations of tax evasion, currency trafficking, and money laundering. Cuspinera, who also heads TCC Las Américas Importadora Exportadora in the United States, had successfully established himself in Cuba since 2013, offering products through his Diplomarket platform. However, his economic success appears to have made him a target for the Castro regime, the publication notes.

Authorities waited until the end of the day to raid his business and confiscate all assets, in a sale they had previously authorized, the report explains. The situation worsened the day after Cuspinera and his wife, Camila, were detained, as authorities began distributing the confiscated goods among members of the Castro elite, the publication details.

According to sources close to the case, this type of abuse is not isolated. This month, judicial reviews have been held for other entrepreneurs who have been unjustly imprisoned for a year. Although some were granted bail or freedom by a judge's decision, those decisions were revoked the same day by Cuban military forces, highlighting the lack of justice and respect for the law in the country, the report adds.

The case of Cuspinera reflects a repetitive pattern where the regime attacks those who try to create opportunities and prosperity outside of state control, the publication emphasizes, noting that numerous entrepreneurs are being unfairly investigated or detained simply for trying to improve the lives of Cubans by creating jobs and better living conditions.

Last year, the Cuban regime denied the existence of a Costco supermarket in Havana, claiming it was a business owned by a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME). Patrick Oppmann, a CNN correspondent, showed surprising images of what he called "the first Costco in Cuba" in October 2023, and warned that not everyone could afford the store's exorbitantly high prices, which accepted payments in CUP, USD, and euros.

Las Américas TCC, the company headed by Cuspinera, was responsible for supplying the so-called "Cuban Costco," which opened in late 2022. When Oppmann's report was released, the independent portal 14ymedio visited the store and observed the heavy surveillance it was under.

The publication notes that at a first checkpoint, vehicle details and entry times were recorded, and further along, there was another guard post before entering the store, whose owner was not known at the time as the firm was not listed among SMEs approved by the Ministry of Economy and Planning. The newspaper found that the entrepreneur had a residence in the United States and currently lived in El Vedado, Havana.

His name appeared in a letter that several Cuban entrepreneurs sent to U.S. President Joe Biden, asking him to lift sanctions against the Cuban government, which were harming their businesses.