Cuban authorities have successfully intercepted 72 separate drug smuggling attempts between 2024 and 2025, seizing substantial quantities of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and synthetic cannabinoids originating from 11 different countries. This achievement comes despite significant challenges posed by the United States embargo and the increasingly sophisticated methods employed by international drug cartels.
At a recent press conference, Justice Minister Oscar Manuel Silvera Martínez, who chairs Cuba’s National Drug Commission, detailed the nation’s comprehensive anti-narcotics strategy. The approach combines rigorous law enforcement with extensive public education campaigns, maintaining a zero-tolerance policy toward drug trafficking and consumption. Minister Silvera emphasized that Cuba’s geographical position places it along major drug transit routes connecting South American production centers with North American consumer markets, yet the country has consistently prevented itself from becoming a significant storage or transit point for narcotics.
Colonel Juan Carlos Poey Guerra, head of the Ministry of Interior’s Specialized Anti-Drug Enforcement Agency, highlighted emerging challenges including the proliferation of synthetic substances and innovative smuggling techniques. These include speedboat deliveries, airborne drops, and packages deliberately abandoned in Cuban waters that wash ashore due to currents and weather patterns. The recent passage of Hurricane Melissa led to the discovery of 792.5 kilograms of marijuana and 12.25 kilograms of cocaine along Guantánamo’s northern coast, demonstrating how natural phenomena can unexpectedly introduce drugs into Cuban territory.
First Colonel Yvey Daniel Carballo Pérez of the Border Guard Troops Directorate noted that Cuba’s extensive 5,746-kilometer coastline presents substantial monitoring challenges. Despite these difficulties, authorities have captured 14 speedboats and 39 traffickers in recent operations, seizing a total of 4,487 kilograms of illicit substances. All interdiction operations have been conducted without loss of human life, even during high-speed pursuits of smuggling vessels.
The Cuban government has intensified its anti-drug efforts through enhanced training programs, technological modernization, and sophisticated laboratory analysis that has identified 41 new synthetic drug formulations entering the country, most traced to United States origins. Community involvement remains crucial to these efforts, with coastal residents playing a vital role in reporting suspicious packages and activities.