MIAMI - The Cuban government and its top law enforcement officials on Thursday emphasized the importance of prioritizing anti-drug trafficking operations with the United States, confirming that officials in Havana continue to provide crucial information to the U.S. Coast Guard in an effort to aid Washington in its fight against the region's narcotics trade.
Colonel Ybey Carballo, chief of Cuba's Border Patrol, told reporters that the two governments continue to collaborate on drug interdiction operations, citing that Cuban officials often tip off U.S. authorities of substantially-sized drug vessels–commonly traveling by sea–destined for U.S. shores.
Carballo says that the Cuban government has a history of such collaboration with the United States, going back to 2017, adding, however, that the formal partnership on the issue between the two long-time foes has since ended during the second Trump administration.
"Cuba is not a black hole like some say", said Chief Carballo, citing that the government in Havana routinely provides its northern adversary with intelligence on suspected drug vessels, any known routes, and the location of vessels suspected of carrying loads of narcotics, often headed to the United States.
In late November, Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez accused the United States of attempting a violent overthrow of the Venezuelan government– a staunch ally and benefactor of the regime in Havana since Hugo Chávez's rise to power in Caracas in 1999.
Foreign Minister Rodriguez warned that the expanding U.S. military deployment in the South Caribbean represents an "aggressive and exaggerated" threat to regional stability, adding that such actions would be a breach of international law and the United Nations Charter.
The statement from Cuba's foreign ministry comes as U.S. counter-trafficking operations in the region began in August, involving a massive military build-up along the Venezuelan coastline, and targeting suspected drug vessels with drone strikes in the region, killing at least 70 "narco-terrorists".
The U.S. government has accused the regime in Caracas of backing a criminal drug-trafficking network called the Cartel de Los Soles–or Cartel of the Suns. The Trump administration claims that the organization is reputed to be headed by officials of the Venezuelan government and members of the top brass of the Venezuelan Armed Forces.
The Cuban government has benefited from its friendship with Caracas over the years, receiving huge oil subsidies from Venezuela's state-run oil conglomerate, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., PDVSA, in exchange for intelligence support and security enforcement to crack down on the Venezuelan government's political opposition.
Western governments, including the United States have long suspected that Cuban spy agents of the G2–Havana's central intelligence apparatus–have infiltrated the Venezuelan executive body with approval from former President Chávez and his successor, Nicolás Maduro.
