Until May of this year, the General Customs of the Republic (AGR) had seized 14 kilograms of drugs with a predominance of cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy and synthetic cannabinoids.
Above all, from the air border—considered one of the significant areas in this type of confrontation—from January to October, 33 cases have been detected, a figure that represents more than double what was registered in all of 2022.
Even though Cuba does not represent an important market in terms of the sale and consumption of this type of illicit substances, customs authorities and the Ministry of the Interior have reported an increasing trend in attempts to bring in narcotics. A clearly National Security issue that requires strengthening the Zero Tolerance policy.
According to the most recent report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the supply of chemical substances continues to record unprecedented numbers and pose a challenge to health services and police responses globally.
The figures indicate that 296 million people used drugs around the world during 2021, which represents an increase of 23% compared to the previous decade, data that supports the growth of 45% in the last 10 years of people with disorders due to its use.
All this, in a context marked by the accentuation of the complexity of identifying it in the different border areas. Hence, the preparation of customs officers and members of the intelligence bodies dedicated to confronting drug trafficking seems essential.
For this reason, according to what was said publicly by the vice-head of the AGR, William Pérez González, in 2024 the degree in Law with a Customs profile will begin in Higher Education and a sectoral program in science, technology and innovation is contemplated.
Likewise, the director of Technologies and Infocommunications of the AGR, David Fernández González, has stated that the digital transformation of his organization conceives eight projects that are linked to the management of customs processes, the deployment of a tool for administrative procedures , the computerization of the Customs school, among others.
Fernández González has pointed out that the AGR has modern equipment capable of carrying out, using artificial intelligence techniques, automated image analysis to discover objects such as drugs and explosives.
The country is also a signatory to the Single Convention of 1961 on Narcotic Drugs as amended by the Protocol of 1872 by Accession on August 30, 1962; of the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971 by Accession on April 26, 1976 and of the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1989, signed on April 7, 1989; allowing cooperation with more than 40 international airports.
Furthermore, since March 1989, the National Drug Commission has been in operation, which—chaired by the Ministry of Justice and made up of permanent representatives of the Ministries of the Interior, Public Health, Education, Higher Education, Foreign Affairs, the Attorney General's Office, the Republic and the AGR itself—has the mission of perfecting the control, prevention, surveillance and rehabilitation procedures, without replacing the institutions in charge of these tasks in their responsibilities and functions.
Even in November 2022, the Ministry of Justice itself, through Resolution 635, updated the institutional plans on drugs based on the implementation of methodological bases for the development of national programs and the Penal Code approved that same year. various contraventions linked to the possession, use and marketing of drugs.