Early this Saturday, November 14, 2026, the residence of Panamanian investigative journalist Rolando Rodríguez, associate deputy director of the newspaper The Presssuffered an attack with an explosive device that caused a fire.
The journalist was about to uncover new details of dark businesses in Cuba, Panama and Venezuela, in another installment of the “Family Business” investigation, carried out by his newspaper, the Latin American Center for Journalistic Investigation (CLIP) and the publications Diario de Cuba, Transparency Venezuela y ArmandoInfo.
The attack on Rolando Rodríguez occurred days after he sent requests for information to former public officials and businessmen for a new report on state contracting, and just weeks before the next presentation of the investigation at the Latin American Conference of Investigative Journalism (COLPIN 2026) that will take place between December 1 and 4 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Together with his colleagues, Rodríguez has worked for two years to clarify the business of the brothers Ramón and Vicente Carretero Napolitano, Panamanian businessmen, with Nicolás Maduro and the Cuban regime.
Carretero Napolitano has been sanctioned by the United States since December 11, 2025, for being a key operator of the financial and oil structure of Chavismo. His brothers Roberto Carretero Napolitano and Vicente Luis Carretero Napolitano have also been sanctioned for being part of the family network that facilitated corrupt practices and business transactions with Maduro’s entourage.
The director of Cuban DiaryPablo Díaz Espí, in statements to Martí Noticias, explained that Rodríguez has spent years investigating “in collaboration with DIARIO DE CUBA the networks of political and economic corruption that connect power groups in countries such as Panama and Venezuela and, more recently, the business structures linked to GAESA.”
“The attack of which he has been a victim is a very serious attack against freedom of the press and has all the characteristics of a desperate attempt to intimidate those who investigate and expose these interests. But it is also a useless attempt: violence will not silence or stop the journalism that reveals the operations of these de facto powers,” said the director of the publication.
Valuable information about Cuba
“Family Business” revealed that General Raúl Castro was the political godfather who introduced Ramón Carretero Napolitano into the upper echelons of Chavista power. From this historical relationship with Havana, the Panamanian businessman operated as a privileged commercial, energy and logistical arm for the Castro leadership, until he consolidated himself as the main intermediary of the oil flow between PDVSA and Havana.
The investigation uncovered aeronautical records that showed that Carretero shared private jets and regular routes between Havana, Caracas and Panama with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, known as “El Cangrejo”.
Between 2021 and 2025, companies linked to Carretero (such as Corporación Logística Zona Libre de Colón and its subsidiary on the island Corporación Logística del Caribe) sold more than $11 million in merchandise directly to Cuban state entities. In several documented operations, intermediaries applied markups of up to 50% on vehicles and up to 324% on basic consumer products, which then ended up being sold in dollarized stores linked to the military conglomerate GAESA.
In the report “Destination Cuba: the lost trace of Venezuelan oil”journalists documented how paper companies registered in Asia by Carretero’s entourage dispatched multimillion-dollar shipments supposedly intended to alleviate the crisis on the island, but whose physical and financial destination ended up being diverted or disappearing on the high seas without accountability.
International condemnation
Organizations such as the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) and the Press and Society Institute (IPYS) repudiated the incident, calling it an unprecedented attack against a communicator in Panama and demanding urgent protection measures for him and his family.
IPYS said in a statement that “investigative journalism plays an essential role in a democratic society.”
In the statement, it demands from the competent authorities “an exhaustive, prompt and transparent investigation to identify, prosecute and punish those responsible for the attack.”
What is known so far
Local media explain that around 2:30 am, an individual arrived in front of the house in a taxi, got out with a backpack on his chest and threw an object at the property. The impact generated an explosion followed by a fire that destroyed two vehicles parked in the garage and caused severe material damage to part of the structure.
Rodríguez was out of town at the time of the attack. His wife was sleeping inside the house with their pets, but managed to escape unharmed before the flames were put out by the Fire Department.
The San Miguelito Regional Prosecutor’s Office opened a formal investigation to identify the material and intellectual author of the attack, relying on neighborhood security cameras that captured the suspect minutes before the explosion.
Source: www.martinoticias.com
