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U.S. has ignored proposals for cooperation
in combating terrorism and drugs

• Fight against crime stepped up on the 40th anniversary of the National Revolutionary Police
• Government to propose stiffer penalties against pimps, traffickers of humans and drugs, and other criminals

Fidel Castro Ruz PRESIDENT Fidel Castro denounced the continued interest on the part of international drug traffickers in using Cuba as a transit point in the traffic of hard drugs and in encouraging domestic consumption.

Speaking on the anniversary of the creation of the National Revolutionary Police, Fidel said that the growth in crime and the appearance of new forms of crime are the matters that most seriously affect internal order in Cuba, fundamentally in the parts of the country that are major tourism destinations.

He referred to a Ministry of the Interior (MININT) report detailing the cases of 219 individuals charged with pimping, of whom 190 were sentenced. With regard to prostitution, 277 individuals were sent to rehabilitation centers for repeat offenses and reiterated antisocial conduct. Others were given warnings and returned to their places of residence.

As of November of 1998, the center for the reception, classification and processing of prostitutes in the city of Havana had received 6714 women, an average of 610 a month. Of that total, 59% were from other provinces of the country, he added.

Quoting from the MININT report, Fidel stated that "there is continued interest on the part of drug traffickers in using our country as a transit point in the traffic of hard drugs and in encouraging domestic consumption, which constitutes a much more complex and diverse incidence of this crime in our country."

He said that the arrest in November, 1998 of 18 foreigners who brought over 53 kilograms of cocaine and 1320 grams of hashish into the country through the Havana airport, with the final destination of England, demonstrates the danger of these kinds of occurrences, as the drugs are hidden in hotels and private homes until reaching their final destination, and this has an obvious influence on our domestic environment.

He also spoke about the investigation into the news reported by international wire service agencies with regard to a cargo of three tons of high grade cocaine discovered in Colombia, which the authorities there claimed was destined for Cuba. "Had we been provided with a bit of information beforehand, and not through the public wire services, given that we have signed cooperation agreements, we could have provided a little more help."

DRUG TRAFFICKING BUSINESSMEN

Specifically, he noted, Cuba could have helped capture two Spanish citizens who appear to be involved in the incident, José Royo Llorca and José Anastasio Herrera Campos, both of them executives from the Cuban-Spanish joint venture Artesanía Caribeña Poliplast & Royo, based in Cuba.

He said there is evidence pointing to the probable participation of Royo and Herrera in both this operation and other previous incidents of international trafficking, in which the drugs were hidden in containers - with false bottoms - used for the exports and imports carried out by the abovementioned company. Providing details on the contacts held with the Colombian authorities with regard to this incident, Fidel noted that both Colonel Leonardo Gallego, head of the narcotics control department of the National Police of Colombia, and General Rosso José Serrano, head of the National Police, expressly stated their conviction that the final destination of the drugs was not Cuba.

Fidel added that there have been a growing number of drug shipments washing up on Cuba's coasts; between January and November of 1998, some 279 of these shipments were discovered (250 of marijuana, 26 of cocaine, two of hashish oil and one of hashish), totaling 3520 kilograms in all. The 1998 figure is almost double those registered in 1996 and 1997, when 111 and 146 such shipments were confiscated, respectively. Marijuana continues to dominate in terms of both the number of shipments washing ashore and the total quantity involved. Between 1995 and 1998, 217 foreigners were arrested for drug trafficking on Cuba's borders. As of December 18 of last year, 165 foreigners were being held in penitentiary centers for this crime, 141 men and 24 women; 117 were serving sentences, while 48 were awaiting trial.

The Cuban president noted that there has been an increase in both the number of incidents and the variety of drugs, fundamentally in the country's capital, with repercussions on social strata that were formerly unaffected. Cuban authorities registered 1216 arrests for possession and domestic trafficking.

THE ILLEGAL TRAFFICKING OF HUMANS

Fidel also addressed the problem of the illegal trafficking of humans. International networks have been created in both the countries of origin and destination of these illegal migrants. In the case of Cuba, they usually arrive as tourists. "The trafficking of humans, which affects our country, organized fundamentally out of the United States and the Bahamas, has increased. Between January and November of 1998, the Cuban authorities intercepted 90 plans or attempts made with support from abroad, in which 660 people were involved," he said, adding that a number of traffickers have been arrested in Cuba for these activities.

He noted that in spite of the migratory agreement between the United States and Cuba, which obliges the United States to return Cuban illegal emigrants to the island, the United States maintains the privilege of accepting those who arrive on its coasts. This serves to encourage attempts at illegal emigration and the trafficking of humans, condemned by the migratory agreement itself and by international laws.

Fidel stressed that Cuba has informed the U.S. government of its willingness to return the traffickers captured in Cuba to the United States, where they reside. Cuba has also proposed cooperation in the fight against terrorism and the trafficking of drugs and of humans. "We have proposed the cooperation needed in the aforementioned areas. I believe that tomorrow's world cannot even be conceived of if such forms of cooperation are not established between countries. They know this. This cooperation has not been rejected, although it has been ignored, but we know that in many circles in the United States, and in U.S. government circles specifically, there is the conviction that these forms of cooperation are absolutely essential."

Elsewhere in his speech, Fidel spoke of the increase in robberies with violence, among other crimes, and declared that the fight against criminal activities must be won with organization, discipline and intelligence, and without violence. He stressed that police officers who investigate on the basis of force do not develop what is most important in the fight against crime, namely intelligence. "We must win the fight the way we won the fight here against the 300 counterrevolutionary organizations that existed in the first years of the Revolution," he stressed. "You can't play with this country, or with the future of this country!" he later declared.

STIFFER PENALTIES FOR CRIMINALS

Fidel also referred to the idea of the government proposing to the Council of State that it establish life sentences in prison for those who carry out the "repugnant activity" of the trafficking of humans, in violation of the principles of international law, the country's laws and the migratory agreements in effect by carrying out the repugnant activity of trafficking in humans. "For those who commit the vile disgrace, the monstrous crime against our homeland and humanity of using Cuban territory for international drug trafficking, capital punishment!" he declared.

"This does not mean that it would automatically be applied without taking into account the specific circumstances and extenuating factors that may exist; but in cases as serious as the one I recounted at the beginning of my reflections, I harbor the hope that our judges will not hesitate to apply it. The alternative in cases that are not extremely serious? Life in prison.

"And under certain circumstances, 30 years minimum," he added.

For the robbery of private homes, when the occupants are not present, and even more so when they are present, "I hope that the sentences are no less than at least 20 years, up to 30, if necessary, and even up to life in prison if they are repeat offenders."

He noted that for crimes like rape, the penalties already established in the Penal Code are sufficiently severe, but that for those who exploit women, namely pimps, he hopes that sentences will not be less than 20 years. With regard to prostitution, he said that he does not believe there should be specifically penal sanctions. "It truly hurts a great deal that in a country that has given all boys and girls the opportunity to study; it hurts a great deal that in a country that has done so much to eliminate discrimination against women, although it still has not totally achieved this; it hurts a great deal that in a country where 65% of the technical work force is made up by women, and where so much has been done to give women dignity, along come foreigners, along come Cubans who trick them, dominate them, corrupt them," he declared.