Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro — a 42-year-old colonel in Cuba's Ministry of the Interior and the eldest grandson of former president Raúl Castro — has been named as an alleged protector of a smuggling and boat-theft operation that moved thousands of Cubans through Mexico, according to a New York Times investigation published Aug. 11. Two men convicted in the case told U.S. investigators that Rodríguez Castro — nicknamed "El Cangrejo," the Crab, after a childhood hand deformity — used his standing inside Havana's power structure to keep smuggling routes running, according to court records reviewed by the paper.
