Steve Marshall: the man whose websites opened business for Cuba

Stephen Anthony Marshall, known as Steve Marshall, is the English businessman who heads the Canadian company RevoluGroup, which was authorized since the beginning of March to send remittances to Cuba.

Marshall has had decades of relations with the island since its first trip in 1995, according to a report on the Yucabyte website.

In 1996, after the Havana government approved the Foreign Investment Law, the businessman registered his company Tour & Marketing, related to electronic commerce, an unexplored sector in the country, according to European Business magazine.

In the late 1990s, Marshall set up offices in the Hemingway Marina and started businesses in Cuba, including GoCubaPlus. This portal sells tourist packages and flight, hotel, and car reservations for tourists abroad. He also offered consulting services to foreigners wishing to visit the island.

Another company set up by the businessman in the Caribbean country was Real Estate Cuba, dedicated to the luxury real estate business. In this project, Marshall invested over 75,000 dollars. In 1999, European Business magazine indicated that he had sold more than 60 apartments, almost all in the residential area of Miramar, Havana, for prices ranging between $40,000 and $90,000.

By the 2000s, the English businessman had already purchased more than 200 Internet domain names related to Cuba.

He also conducted a digital marketing business for several hotel chains and the Cuban state-owned brand Ciego Montero.

According to a 2016 Yahoo! Life story, Marshall created the real estate company Primeras Inversiones Internacional, whose partner was CIMEX, which is part of the Cuban military business monopoly Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A (GAESA).

Marshall was part of the joint venture Dimension W-Tech—a joint venture between the Ministry of Communications (MINCOM) company Softel and Primeras Inversiones Internacional. The digital marketing business had the participation of the Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR).

"Mr. Marshall is very knowledgeable about the idiosyncrasies of dealing with the Cuban government and foreign investment laws in Cuba," wrote the Yahoo! Life story.

Radio Television Martí also claimed in 2015 that the businessman was a member of the Board of Advisors for Investments in Cuba.

Other Marshall companies on the island included CiberSpaces, Cuba Gift Store, Velocicom and Travelucion Media, among others.

After 11 years with a Cuban residence, the English businessman left around 2006. Emilio Morales, president of The Havana Consulting Group & Tech and vice president of RevoluGroup USA Inc, told Yucabyte that Marshall was able to leave the island “in time” and has never returned.

The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted 80% of Marshall's websites for helping Americans evade travel restrictions to Cuba and generating resources for the Cuban regime, according to a 2007 Radio Television Marti report.

However, Marshall resumed business with Cuba years later. One of his companies, Travelucion Media (Travelucion S.L), founded in 2011, is now a subsidiary of RevoluGroup. The latter has been authorized to send remittances to the country as of March 1, 2022.