In 2024, more than 1,000 kilos were seized, mostly cocaine, and more than 1,100 people were sentenced to prison.
14ymedio, Madrid, 21 February 2025 — The authorities’ concern about the increase in the amount of drugs circulating on the Island is as evident as is its desire to spread the message that they are fighting on all fronts. This is demonstrated by apparently trivial details such as the fact that this Thursday Noticiero Estelar issued a brief report about a trial held in Havana against a 50-year-old man accused of drug trafficking for being in possession of a package in his name with 7.5 kilograms of cocaine from the Dominican Republic.
In a country where crime was previously not talked about and the circulation of narcotics was denied, the issue of drugs is very present lately in the official media, which are reporting this trial before the sentence is known.
The provincial newspaper Tribuna de La Habana has not missed a beat and this Friday had two news reports – one of them from the previous day – that also address the issue from different angles. One talks about the “confrontation” with several images of police operations in the capital and the offer of “support for young people at risk”; the other celebrates a workshop that was held at the Saúl Delgado Urban Pre-University Institute, in El Vedado, for the prevention and rejection of drugs.
The data offered by the Ministry of the Interior at the end of 2024 make it clear that the problem exists on all fronts of the Island. Last year, 1,051 kilos of drugs were detected in Cuba, mostly cocaine, in addition to marijuana, methamphetamine and cannabinoids. The maritime route continues to be the most active – or, at least, the one where most drugs were detected. There alone, the police seized 844.02 kilos (619.72 of cocaine, 222 of marijuana and 2.3 of hashish) in 133 landings. There were also nine searches in which 37.5 kilos of drugs were seized.
The data offered by the Ministry of the Interior at the end of 2024 make it clear that the problem exists on all fronts on the Island
The report, published this Friday in the State newspaper Granma, highlights the participation of other countries in these crimes and mentions several operations concerning speedboats that penetrated national territory from the US, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. Cuba cooperates with the authorities of these countries, including an investigation into “20 organizers abroad.”
Within Cuba, a case in Pinar del Río stands out in which three people – the organizer and two boat drivers – were arrested with more than 8 kilos of methamphetamine.
Detection from the air was lower, although the ministry points out that it has corroborated “the intention of foreigners and Cubans based abroad to introduce drugs to the national territory through several airports from ten countries in the region,” by way of mules, cargo or post.
“From the United States, synthetic cannabinoids (el químico – the chemical) are kept in their natural state – powder – and mixed with tobacco and methamphetamine,” says the report. This economical product is ravaging the streets of many cities on the Island and visibly worries the authorities, who have admitted the death of at least two people related to this product, as well as the addiction of countless young people.
In the airports, the information indicates, 94 people were arrested, 75 of them Cubans. In addition, more than 90 kilos of drugs were confiscated: 74 of cocaine, 7.8 of marijuana, 5.8 of synthetic cannabinoids, 2.6 of methamphetamine and 0.06 of ecstasy. Through Interpol, 59 Cubans and two foreigners are being sought for the crime of illicit drug trafficking.
Within the Island, the note adds, 157 interprovincial trafficking operations were hindered, with 267 detainees and more than 73 kilos of drugs secured. Most cases are concentrated in Havana, Camagüey, Holguín, Granma and Santiago de Cuba. The concentration of cases of dismantled cultivation in the east of the country is striking, since it only refers to those provinces when reporting the 105 cases found, with more than 49,000 plants and more than 207,000 seeds seized.
The ministry insists on international cooperation and says it is in contact with 37 foreign anti-drug services
The ministry insists on international cooperation and says it has contact with 37 foreign anti-drug services and has exchanged 105 messages with 24 countries.
Nor does it skimp on numbers when reporting on the “application of criminal and prison policy.” There are 1,237 drug trafficking files opened by the prosecutor’s office and 897 certified for possession. Of those accused, 92% go to pre-trial detention “because of their harmful nature.” In the courts there were 980 cases in which 1,193 people were judged, 97% of them sanctioned and 94% with deprivation of liberty. In addition, figures are given for hundreds of thousands of talks and debates in educational centers with the participation of hundreds of thousands of people. Also, it reminds readers that an organization dedicated entirely to this phenomenon, the National Drug Observatory, has been inaugurated.
In the midst of this panorama, Manuel Marrero also addressed the matter in a meeting with the authorities of the State and the Party in the Palace of the Revolution. There, the figures exposed by the Ministry of the Interior were reviewed, and the dangers of these substances were stressed, both for health when they are consumed and for national security when they are introduced into the country.
All the speeches underlined the importance of having the phenomenon under control and called it “a battle” to indicate that it is a war “against all those who are trying to contaminate society.” Marrero turned, at the end, to the leaders of the Revolution and, quoting Raúl Castro, said that drugs will be fought “with blood and fire.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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