Intervention of the Vice Minister of Justice, Pilar Varona Estrada, during the 68th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
Distinguished Chairman,
We congratulate you on your appointment and express our willingness to contribute to the success of the 68th United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
As a State party to the drug conventions and in strict adherence to international law, we reaffirm our political will to address the problem from an integral approach, which achieves a balance between preventive and confrontational actions, under the principle of “zero tolerance” to the manifestations of the world drug problem. Therefore, we maintain a strict monitoring of the areas where this problem may emerge, reaffirming the policy that we are not a producer or transit State of illicit substances.
Mr. President,
Cuba focuses its efforts on preventive and educational policies, with the joint participation of all actors in society, under the principles of accessibility, non-discrimination and comprehensiveness, complemented by the implementation of the national plan to combat crime, in compliance with the law and respect for our international commitments.
Cuba's National Drug Commission coordinates anti-drug policies at the national level, in conjunction with the main agencies of the Central State Administration and political and mass organizations.
During 2024, progress has been made in the constitution of the National Drug Observatory of our country, as a permanent body for receiving information from national and international sources, aimed at providing real, objective and updated information on the drug situation, which will allow the strengthening of scientific and research capacities in the areas related to drugs and substances with similar effects.
In this task, the technical assistance offered by specialists of the COPOLAD Program and the UNODC's Global Synthetic Drugs Monitoring Program: Analysis, Reports and Trends has played a fundamental role.
Mr. Chairman,
We reaffirm the importance of international cooperation and the exchange of best practices among States as a strategy for strengthening international capacities to prevent and confront drug problems.
The accessibility of all States to new technologies for detecting and combating this scourge must be ensured. In this context, we denounce once again that our country has been and continues to be the victim of restrictions in this area, as a consequence of the illegal policy of economic, commercial and financial blockade applied for six decades by the government of the United States of America against Cuba; as well as the inclusion of our country in the list of State sponsors of terrorism, which has a negative impact on access to financing and technological equipment destined to the fight against drugs.
Cuba reaffirms its commitment to the international contribution to the efforts to confront the world drug problem from its position of “zero tolerance”.
Thank you very much.