Counterdrug Operations

Cuba stretches across the Caribbean between the United States and the Latin American countries that produce much of the world's illegal drug supply. Drug traffickers often pass through Cuban waters or airspace on their way to and from drug-consuming countries - the largest of which is the United States. The Cuban archipelago consists of thousands of tiny islets that provide cover to smugglers, and Cuba's limited resources make policing these activities a daunting task. Currently U.S. and Cuban counterdrug authorities cooperate modestly, on a case-by-case basis. Many observers contend that if the United States is truly serious about fighting "the war on drugs," it should increase cooperation with the Cubans on regional efforts to intercept and deter drug shipments.

(Excerpt from 2001 meeting)


Col. Oliverio Montalvo
Chief of Counterdrug Operations
Cuban Ministry of Interior

(Through translator): Three levels of cooperation (on counterdrug activities) could be established: modest cooperation, a wider and more effective cooperation, and total cooperation. For one and two, our resources are enough. But for total cooperation and effective cooperation, we would need some technical dispositives and some communications equipment. In a few words, our Commander in Chief expressed our total disposal to cooperate with the United States… Since the very beginning of the '90s, when the international drug trafficking problems started to make more the situation for Cuba more complex, Cuba stated its position to give information, evidence, and sometimes drug dealers to the U.S. authorities.

With the Limerick vessel situation, if you remember, we received visitors from the Justice Department, from the Drug Enforcement Administration in Miami, from the Coast Guard service of the United States, and even visits from the attorney of the charged people. And I'm not going to give you more details about this case because you already know the details. And we gave 6.6 tons of drugs -- we offered also our personal presence in the United States, including two officers with responsibilities in the Border Guard troops.

Each time that the U.S. Interests Section has requested contact with our personnel in order to talk about some aspect of the drug trafficking fight, the answers have been positive.

Col. Montalvo
(Through translator): Cuba has the opinion that we have mutual responsibility in the fight against drugs -- it doesn't matter if the problem is with the consuming or the producing countries. In the proposals that have been made, our considerations are favorable to explore the possibility of having joint training; undoubtedly it would mean exchange of experiences, developing skills in our personnel, getting to know each other better, and confidence-building.

We also think that it would be useful to visit operational intelligence centers in the region.

Gen. Charles Wilhelm, USMC (Ret.)
Fmr. Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Southcom
Distinguished Military Fellow, CDI


The end to which I refer is regionalizing the counterdrug struggle. After working hard on this problem for three years, I'm convinced that individual countries are doing some good work. In some cases, we see good cooperation on a bilateral basis. But I see very few examples where we're coming together as an entire region, an effective effort to combat the narco-traffickers.

We worry about each other's sovereignty. The traffickers don't care about anybody's sovereignty. Frequently, they defeat us at our borders. They know where the borders are. They know that coordinating operations on borders is difficult, and they exploit those conditions.

My thought is that we need to start somewhere. Effective regional training and gaining an appreciation of what capabilities each and every country can bring to the struggle is a very good place to start. So the real intent here was to talk a little bit about how we might regionalize the struggle.

Div. Gen. Jesus Bermudez Cutiño
Fmr. Chief of Cuban Military Intelligence
Director, Center for Study of Information on Defense, Cuba


(Through translator): According to my own experience of over 20 years as head of Cuban military intelligence, I can tell you that no efficient drug fighting is possible in the region without active involvement by Cuba. This is given by the geographic position of our country. Drugs are hitting not only the United States, but all countries, including Cuba. Cuba is willing to participate in every possible and necessary effort. There are only political restraints. In this sense, it would be better to pay less attention to the Miami people.