Cuban Regime Targets Journalist for Exposing GAESA's $18 Billion Assets

The Cuban regime has launched a fresh smear campaign against journalist Nora Gámez Torres of the Miami Herald following her revelations about the $18 billion in assets controlled by GAESA, the military-business conglomerate that monopolizes the country's main sources of foreign currency. On October 5, the pro-government portal Cubadebate published an article titled “Journalists or Uncovered Agents? The 'Cultured' Face of the CIA,” in which author Juan Fernández López devoted over a thousand words to attacking the Cuban-American reporter with conspiracy-laden rhetoric and personal insults.

Conspicuously absent from the article was any mention of the leaked documents or the investigation into GAESA, which has shaken the Cuban public sphere since August. This omission suggests the regime's intention to stifle any discourse regarding the military's economic power.

From Argument to Insult: The Nature of the Attack

The Cubadebate piece avoided addressing facts, instead constructing an ideological pamphlet. It posed questions such as “Who finances Nora Gámez's news findings?” and “What is her relationship with Marco Rubio and the Miami traitors?” baselessly accusing her of “servility,” “treason,” and “obedience to the CIA.” The official publication used defamatory language as a political tool, portraying Gámez as a “CIA and mafia employee” and questioning her academic credentials, despite her journalism degree from the University of Havana and her Ph.D. in Sociology from London, insinuating these were “recruitment scholarships” from U.S. intelligence.

Moreover, the attack sought to undermine her professional legitimacy by dismissing her international awards as “rewards for servility.” Nevertheless, the facts contradict this portrayal: Gámez Torres received the Maria Moors Cabot Gold Medal from Columbia University in 2025, one of the continent's most prestigious journalism awards. The jury praised her “rigorous, well-documented, and deeply humane” work on Cuba and Latin America.

The Real Reason Behind the Silence on GAESA

What stands out most about the Cubadebate article is not what it said, but what it omitted. At no point was the Business Administration Group (GAESA) mentioned, highlighting the reason for the government's ire. In August, the Miami Herald published an investigation by Nora Gámez Torres based on internal documents from the business conglomerate, revealing that the military group holds over $18 billion in liquid assets. This amount equals nearly one-fifth of Cuba's Gross Domestic Product and several times the national health system's budget.

According to Gámez Torres' investigation, GAESA controls the country's main foreign currency sources: tourism, medical services exports, retail trade in foreign currencies (MLC), and port and airport logistics. The group does not pay taxes in hard currency and receives state subsidies in pesos, operating within an opaque financial framework unaccountable to the National Assembly or the Comptroller.

The exposure of these data triggered a political earthquake both inside and outside the island. Independent activists and economists denounced the military conglomerate's absolute control over the economy and the government's silence, which to this day, has not provided a public explanation. The renewed attack on Gámez confirms the regime’s choice to shoot the messenger rather than address the message.

Journalism Under Siege

Nora Gámez Torres, a former faculty member at the University of Havana's School of Communication, emigrated over a decade ago and joined the investigative team at the Nuevo Herald and the Miami Herald. Since then, she has established herself as one of the most respected journalists covering Cuban affairs. Her name appears in high-impact international investigations like the Panama Papers and reports on espionage and human rights in Cuba and Venezuela. In recent years, she has been barred from entering the island, yet she continues to work with sources and independent journalist networks inside the country.

The animosity with which the official press portrays her reflects the regime's fear of free press. This is not an isolated case: the regime's media machinery has used the same defamation pattern against intellectuals, artists, and journalists exposing their corruption or abuses. As in the old manuals of the Department of Ideology of the Central Committee, the method is predictable but effective: transform dissenters into enemies, journalists into spies, and criticism into treason.

Between Slander and Censorship

The Cubadebate article is part of a broader campaign of harassment against independent press. In recent weeks, authorities have intensified threats against exiled media and digital platforms that have disseminated the leaks about GAESA. Neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Central Bank have issued statements on the allegations, nor have the regime's usual spokespeople. The directive is clear: remain silent to protect the most closely guarded secret of the Cuban economy. Paradoxically, this silence lends credibility to the work of Gámez Torres and other reporters who have challenged censorship to expose the military's financial mechanisms.

An Attack That Reveals More Than It Conceals

In its attempt to discredit the journalist, Cubadebate inadvertently confirmed the relevance of her investigation. If the accusation were false or unfounded, it would suffice to present GAESA's financial statements or refute with data. However, the regime prefers insults over arguments. The official media obsessively cited the current U.S. Secretary of State as the alleged “mastermind” behind the leak, yet failed to present a single piece of evidence. Instead, they resorted to the metaphor of “Saturn devouring his children” to accuse Gámez of “betraying the homeland” — a crime punishable by death — using rhetoric anchored in the 1960s that reveals the system's inability to tolerate journalistic scrutiny.

The Price of Informing

Nora Gámez Torres' case illustrates the cost of reporting on Cuba from exile. Being a woman, an academic, and an independent journalist makes her a perfect target for a defamation campaign mixing sexism, resentment, and political revenge. Unlike the bureaucrats attacking her, Gámez does not have a propaganda machine. Her defense is in her work, the data she publishes, and the credibility she has earned inside and outside the United States. Her investigation into GAESA's $18 billion not only exposed the military's economic power but also the regime's fear of transparency. And perhaps that is the most unforgivable crime for the Cuban leadership: demonstrating that behind the narrative of blockade and resistance lies a system that amasses wealth while its people endure blackouts, shortages, and censorship.

The attack on Nora Gámez Torres is not just against a journalist; it is a warning to free journalism. In Cuba, anyone who questions GAESA's millions becomes, by official decree, a “CIA agent.” Yet every insult confirms what the regime fears: the truth continues to leak, despite their attempts to silence it.