Perla Rosales, who replaced Eusebio Leal, is the daughter of one of Fidel Castro’s generals
14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, July 21, 2024 — “When the Russians called us, Eusebio Leal used to say, ’Don’t even ask for my permission. Just go ahead.’” Perla Rosales, deputy-director of Havana’s Office of the Historian, leaves little doubt about Moscow’s role in the financial survival of her organization. “We work very well with the Russians,” she says in an interview with Russia Today (RT). “We have Russians in our blood.”
During the interview, which took place in Leal’s old office, Rosales made it clear that the post will not be filled anytime soon. “People wonder when there will be a new historian. No, no, no! Eusebio is still here,” she said. All its operations are now being handled by what she describes as “a very loyal team” over which she presides.
The daughter of one of Fidel Castro’s generals and acting-director of the organization since Leal’s death in 2020, Rosales was full of praise for Moscow, whose financing was decisive in 2016 when the agency’s parent company, Habaguanex, was taken over by GAESA, a business conglomerate controlled by the Cuban armed forces. GAESA was directed by Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, former son-in-law of Raúl Castro, until his death in July 2022.
The daughter of one of Fidel Castro’s generals and acting-director of the organization since Leal’s death in 2020, Rosales was full of praise for Moscow
Rosales notes, with some satisfaction, that Habanaguanex “had a budget of 120 million dollars.” It restored and operated twenty-one hotels, which were always “at 90% occupancy.” At that time, Leal gave an interview to the Associated Press in which he alluded very discreetly to GAESA’s guardianship. Without mentioning anything about the reasons for the takeover, he said tersely, “I am handing over everything that I currently believe to be in optimal condition.”
“Leal decided that it was time for the business side to be run by a company under the auspices of a large holding company like GAESA so that he could focus his energies on the community and social welfare projects,” she said. GAESA pays the agency a portion of Habaguanex’ profits, which it reinvests in its own restoration projects.
