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Boca De Sama - Cuban officials declared their fight against drugs a national security issue after destroying 25 sacks of marijuana recently seized with U.S. Coast Guard backup by tossing them into a boiling-hot cauldron.
Authorities burned the drug at a steel factory in eastern Cuba, later telling international reporters they were determined to keep the island as drug-free as possible. The marijuana was seized in the seas and along Cuba's northern coast in a bust that also netted three suspected Jamaican smugglers in a speedboat.
"For us, drugs represent an issue of national security," said Lt. Col. Miguel Guilarte, the coast guard's anti-drug chief. The Cuban revolution's advances "will disintegrate if our citizenry doesn't fight against ... this phenomenon that corrupts society."
The government has intensified its campaign against illicit drugs in recent months, publicizing its interdiction efforts in the state-run media and inviting international journalists to events highlighting moves against drug trafficking.
During Tuesday's event, authorities transported bags of marijuana to the factory in Las Tunas, where they were hoisted up by a massive crane and thrown into a blazing cauldron.
"I don't think there's any way any marijuana's left in there," the interior ministry's Lt. Col. Elio Cobiella said watching the flames.
Communist officials launched a campaign in January 2003 to fight an incipient drug market generated by renewed tourism to the island in the mid-1990s.
Under the campaign, more than three tons of drugs, primarily marijuana, were seized in 2004. More than 1,800 people were tried for drug trafficking, with 66 percent of them receiving at least six-year prison sentences, the Communist Party newspaper Granma reported recently.
The case involving the Jamaicans occurred in November, after a suspicious boat leaving the Jamaican town of Ocho Rios was identified. Working with Jamaican and U.S. Coast Guard officials based in Miami, Cuban authorities intercepted the speedboat off the island's northern coast Nov. 8, arresting all three men aboard.
Over the next 10 days, Cuba deployed hundreds of anti-drug agents to search for drugs believed to have been tossed off the boat. Twenty-five sacks containing more than 1,320 pounds of packed marijuana were recovered.
Lt. Juan Antonio Galindo, the coast guard's chief for Holguin and Las Tunas, said the route taken by the Jamaicans is a common one for drug-laden speedboats bound for the Bahamas or the United States. Flights leaving Jamaica also fly over these eastern provinces before dropping drug packets off the island's northern coast for waiting boats. The Jamaicans are being tried in Cuba.
Source: Newsday.com
Copyright: Newsday, Inc.
Website: Long Island's & NYC's News Source
Authorities burned the drug at a steel factory in eastern Cuba, later telling international reporters they were determined to keep the island as drug-free as possible. The marijuana was seized in the seas and along Cuba's northern coast in a bust that also netted three suspected Jamaican smugglers in a speedboat.
"For us, drugs represent an issue of national security," said Lt. Col. Miguel Guilarte, the coast guard's anti-drug chief. The Cuban revolution's advances "will disintegrate if our citizenry doesn't fight against ... this phenomenon that corrupts society."
The government has intensified its campaign against illicit drugs in recent months, publicizing its interdiction efforts in the state-run media and inviting international journalists to events highlighting moves against drug trafficking.
During Tuesday's event, authorities transported bags of marijuana to the factory in Las Tunas, where they were hoisted up by a massive crane and thrown into a blazing cauldron.
"I don't think there's any way any marijuana's left in there," the interior ministry's Lt. Col. Elio Cobiella said watching the flames.
Communist officials launched a campaign in January 2003 to fight an incipient drug market generated by renewed tourism to the island in the mid-1990s.
Under the campaign, more than three tons of drugs, primarily marijuana, were seized in 2004. More than 1,800 people were tried for drug trafficking, with 66 percent of them receiving at least six-year prison sentences, the Communist Party newspaper Granma reported recently.
The case involving the Jamaicans occurred in November, after a suspicious boat leaving the Jamaican town of Ocho Rios was identified. Working with Jamaican and U.S. Coast Guard officials based in Miami, Cuban authorities intercepted the speedboat off the island's northern coast Nov. 8, arresting all three men aboard.
Over the next 10 days, Cuba deployed hundreds of anti-drug agents to search for drugs believed to have been tossed off the boat. Twenty-five sacks containing more than 1,320 pounds of packed marijuana were recovered.
Lt. Juan Antonio Galindo, the coast guard's chief for Holguin and Las Tunas, said the route taken by the Jamaicans is a common one for drug-laden speedboats bound for the Bahamas or the United States. Flights leaving Jamaica also fly over these eastern provinces before dropping drug packets off the island's northern coast for waiting boats. The Jamaicans are being tried in Cuba.
Source: Newsday.com
Copyright: Newsday, Inc.
Website: Long Island's & NYC's News Source
