- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 28/Aug 20:48

Cuba: US narcotics market fuelling trafficking

The Cuban government has condemned the deployment of United States military forces in the Caribbean Sea, describing the move as a serious threat to regional sovereignty and stability. In a statement on August 28, Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the operation represents “an aggressive show of force” that disregards the 2014 declaration by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which designated the region a Zone of Peace. Cuba rejected what it called “absurd pretexts” used by Washington to justify the deployment, including claims linking the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro to drug trafficking. It said the US Drug Enforcement Agency’s latest report did not list Venezuela among those responsible for narcotics operations affecting the US. The Cuban government accused Washington of resorting to lies to justify interventionism. It compared the current situation to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 which it described as a charade based on unfounded allegations of the presence of weapons of mass destruction “This pretext served to attack and invade a sovereign country, causing the death of hundreds of thousands of its citizens and the forced displacement of a similar figure.” Cuba said the US remains the world’s largest narcotics market, fuelling trafficking networks in Latin America and the Caribbean while failing to address the problem domestically. The statement also linked the US arms industry to the growth of organised crime in the region. Cuba criticised the US’s military deployment to the region saying it was not a reasonable response to combat drug trafficking. “No one with minimum common sense and honesty believes that the quantity of the troops, the combat materiel, naval forces, including nuclear submarines, and the firepower that the US has sought to deploy in this peaceful area of the world, is the appropriate manner to fight organised crime, illicit drug trafficking or irregular migration flows.” Cuba said it is committed to fighting the illegal drug trade, defending sovereignty, and promoting peace in the region. It also echoed a call made by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel at the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP) summit earlier this month to denounce what it described as “imperialist shows of force.” The post Cuba: US narcotics market fuelling trafficking appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.