This video links to this post, and is posted here to provide the video with an English transcript.
Transcript in English
We can also combine efforts against drug addiction, as proposed in the last two days of this meeting, and illicit drug trafficking.
It was stated here yesterday that there are drugs in every countries on the continent. I want to clarify that there are no drugs in Cuba; there was an attempt to introduce them, more than 250 foreigners from different countries on the continent have been arrested for trying to smuggle in drugs. There is marijuana, just a little marijuana, which can be grown on any balcony in any Cuban city; but there are no drugs, nor will there be.
I only wish to comment on this issue – departing from the text – so that measures can be taken.
As you know, Cuba is not an attractive country for drugs or for drug traffickers; but when tourism increases, and this past year we were getting close to three million foreign visitors, it did become a focus of traffickers. Additionally, along our coasts, especially our northern coast, packages of differing sizes and weights began to appear, which traffickers had thrown overboard when pressured or pursued by U.S. agents and, when approaching our coasts, by us.
Different currents, especially from the northeast, deposit the packages on our beaches, less so in the south. Consumption began to increase and there were citizens of some Latin American countries who began to freely provide, even to give away, individual portions.
I personally had a meeting with all the bodies related to this problem and we made a decision, “We are going to fight drug use, which was beginning to threaten us, tooth and nail.” All the relevant factors were coordinated; we used our mass organizations, closely tied to the people, our governing party and the government; that is, the Cuban Workers Federation, the National Farmers Association, the Federation of Cuban Women, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. And we appealed to families, we said that the entire country needs to collaborate to find and legally prosecute those beginning to attempt to introduce drugs to our youth, ranging from marijuana to a few samples of cocaine, as we said.
They were arrested. If we want to win, these are the types of problems which must be confronted when they are small, or better yet, before they emerge. This is the best time…
