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The Cuban government rejected on Tuesday the accusations made by the former head of Military Intelligence of Venezuela, Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal, who claimed that island authorities had participated in drug trafficking operations alongside Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
In a written statement sent to the AP agency, Havana also denied that there were contacts with U.S. officials to discuss a supposed transition in Caracas.
In the letter, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Josefina Vidal, described the press reports as “absurd and false” that indicate “alleged contacts between Cuban officials and the government of the United States to discuss internal matters that concern only the government of Venezuela.”
He also added that Cuba rejects attempts to "tarnish its clean history of fighting for peace in Latin America and the Caribbean and against drug trafficking."
The accusations of Carvajal and their judicial context
The allegations emerged following the release of a letter attributed to Carvajal, who led Venezuelan military intelligence and served as a deputy in the National Assembly.
In the letter, revealed exclusively by The Dallas Express, it was stated that there were deliberate shipments of cocaine from Venezuela to the United States as part of a state directive, presented as a "political weapon" designed —according to him— from an idea that originated in Cuba and was passed on to the late president Hugo Chávez.
Carvajal fled Venezuela in 2017 and was arrested in Spain, from where he was extradited to U.S. territory. Last June, he pleaded guilty in a federal court in Manhattan to four criminal charges, including narcoterrorism.
The indictment accuses him of leading a cartel composed of high-ranking Venezuelan officials, in alliance with Colombian guerrilla groups, with the aim of "flooding" the United States with cocaine.
A regional escalation that exacerbates tension
Accusations come at a time of rising tension in the Caribbean, marked by a significant naval deployment by the United States, which includes ships, aircraft carriers, and submarines, as well as direct actions against vessels suspected of smuggling.
This is compounded by the confrontational rhetoric of President Donald Trump, directed both against Maduro and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, as well as the Cuban government itself.
Vidal asserted that "hawkish sectors in the United States resort to crude lies" to attempt to fracture the unity of the Venezuelan government in the face of what he described as "external aggression," and to involve Cuba in creating pretexts that justify military action.
The controversy also coincided with the confirmation that Maduro and Trump recently had a phone conversation. The Venezuelan leader stated that the discussion took place in a “tone of respect,” while Trump acknowledged the contact without providing details, only stating that it was “a phone call.”
Cuba defends itself and highlights its drug control record
Cuban diplomacy emphasized that the country is not a producer of drugs and maintains particularly strict laws against drug trafficking, with penalties that can reach life imprisonment.
However, he acknowledges that its geographical location in the Caribbean places it on a frequent route for smugglers, a situation that —according to Vidal— U.S. agencies are well aware of due to the existing bilateral cooperation in anti-drug matters.
The official, who was pivotal in the thawing of relations between Cuba and the United States during Barack Obama's administration, emphasized that the island has played an active role in promoting regional stability and lamented what she sees as attempts to use false narratives to justify military escalations or geopolitical pressures.
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