The American Sugar Refining Co. was organized in New Jersey in 1891. In 1963 it merged into the American Sugar Co., another New Jersey corporation. In 1963 the American Sugar Co. merged with Domino Sugar Co. of Delaware and a new Delaware corporation, the American Sugar Co. was formed.

American Sugar Refining Co. was the owner of three Cuban corporations, Central Cunagua, S.A., Caonao Warehouses and Agricultural Company, S.A. and Camagüey Development Co., all of which were nationalized on August 6, 1960 by the Fidel Castro regime.

Central Cunagua, S. A. owned and operated two sugar mills and industrial complexes known as Central Cunagua and Central Jaronú. Its land holdings consisted of 552, 808 acres of land including 224,983 on two islands, Cape Romano and Cape Cruz, which had been intended for use as private port facilities but subsequent Cuban laws made such use impossible. Central Cunagua S.A. also owned 45 acres of land at Port Tarafa in the Province of Camaguey where it operated a molasses terminal.

Caonao Warehouses and Agricultural Company, S.A. was a Cuban corporation engaged principally in the business of growing sugar cane on lands owned by Cunagua and other lands leased by Caonao. It was a major colono of both the Jaronu and Cunagua sugar mills. The company also operated warehouses for the storage of raw sugar produced by Cunagua.

Camagüey Development Co., S.A. was a Cuban corporation organized in 1957 to acquire, develop and exploit lands, mines and mineral locations. The company had acquired two oil exploration permits permitting it to explore for oil on lands owned by Central Cunagua, S.A. The company was not an operational enterprise as of August 6, 1960 when it was nationalized by the Fidel Castro regime.

Central Cunagua was a state of the art sugar mill established in 1917 in the Ciego de Avila region by Miguel Gonzalez de Mendoza Pedroso (1856- ) and his son Antonio Gonzalez de Mendoza Montalvo (1886-1955) with funds acquired from their 1916 sale of Central Santa Gertrudis to the Cuba Cane Sugar Co. The electrified mill was sold in 1919 for 14 million dollars to the American Sugar Refining Co. before its first grinding season giving the Mendoza’s the opportunity to invest in banking and real estate when the economy was in high gear.

Central Jaronú was built between 1919 and 1921, it was one of the last sugar mills constructed in Cuba. It was not only the largest in Cuba but the largest in the world. It was one of the three sugar mills that to produce in excess of one million bags of sugar during the record season of 1952.