For the 'Mutual Benefit of CIMEX and Texas'? Really, Governor Abbott?

For the 'Mutual Benefit of CIMEX and Texas'? Really, Governor Abbott?

at 12:17 AM Wednesday, December 2, 2015

According to a press pool report from the Austin American-Statesman, Texas Governor Greg Abbott stated in Havana yesterday:

"Texas wants to begin the process of building relationships with business leaders like CIMEX so that [if the embargo is lifted] we will be well prepared to act swiftly to the mutual benefit of CIMEX and Texas."

One can only hope that this statement is based on Governor Abbott's ignorance -- or the fact that he's only hearing from Castro's apparatchiks.

Otherwise, Abbott is worse than the Obama Administration, which at least purports to seek to "empower" the Cuban people through its policy initiatives.

Abbott is admitting he seeks to "empower" Castro's repressive organs -- so long as Texas makes a profit along the way.

Will Abbott next toast "to the mutual benefit of SETAD and Texas" during a drip to Tehran? (SETAD is the Ayatollah's business conglomerate.)

After all, Iran used to purchase way more Texas rice than Cuba did before each of their "revolutions."

Hoping that this was indeed a thoughtless comment -- let's shed some light.

CIMEX stands for Cuban Export-Import Corporation.

It is one of the Cuban military's largest commercial entities, whose operations range from banking to retail. Its yearly revenues are over $1.5 billion and rising -- thanks to Obama's new policy.

CIMEX has historically been at the center of the Castro regime's illicit financial activities throughout the world, including terrorist financing, diamond smuggling, arms sales and narcotics trafficking.

It was the financial arm of the Cuban intelligence services ("DGI") until General Raul Castro folded it -- along with the island's spy agencies -- under the military's control.

The head of CIMEX is Colonel Hector Oroza Busutin, a Raul Castro confidant.

CIMEX is now a subsidiary of the military's GAESA commercial conglomerate, which is headed by Raul's son-in-law, General Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Callejas.

This is precisely why -- as we warned yesterday -- "rice does not a foreign policy make."