HAVANA: Top law enforcement officials in Cuba said on Thursday the island was prioritizing the fight against narcotics trafficking in the Caribbean and continued to provide information to the US Coast Guard amid escalating tensions and surging US military presence in the region.
Cuba and the United States in 2017 agreed to cooperate in the fight against drug trafficking, but Col. Ybey Carballo, chief of Cuba’s Border Guard, told reporters in Havana formal engagement between the two long-time rival nations had ended under the second administration of US President Donald Trump.
Carballo said Cuba nonetheless routinely provides the US Coast Guard with intelligence, locations, routes and characteristics of boats suspected of trafficking drugs near its waters.
“Cuba is not a black hole like some like to say,” said Carballo, adding that the island’s proactive approach contributed both to the security of the region and “especially to that of the United States, because the boats are often headed (there).”
Carballo said Cuba had provided more than 1,500 tips and intelligence on drug traffickers to the US Coast Guard between 1990 and November 30, 2025, proof, he said, of the island’s long-standing commitment to fighting the drug trade.
Cuba sits directly astride a key route between major drug producers in South America and top consumer, the United States, and the US State Department as recently as 2016 said the island “is not a major consumer, producer or transit point of illicit narcotics.”
The Trump administration has launched an offensive on alleged drug-trafficking boats elsewhere in the Caribbean and Pacific in recent months, killing dozens through targeted missile strikes while accusing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a key Cuba ally, of profiting from the trade.
Cuba has criticized those attacks and accuses the US of seeking a violent overthrow of the Venezuelan government.
Carballo told Reuters that Cuban security forces had not noticed a dramatic change in drug-running activity around Cuba despite the surging US military activity and strikes.
![]()
Cuba says island is no ‘black hole’ on drug trafficking route to US
Short Url
https://arab.news/ycnu6
Cuba says island is no ‘black hole’ on drug trafficking route to US
- Cuba and the United States in 2017 agreed to cooperate in the fight against drug trafficking
- The Caribbean island sits directly astride a key route between major drug producers in South America and the US
Taiwan to send team to assess US rare earth deposits
TAIPEI: Taiwan plans to send officials to assess US rare earths deposits with a goal to have such minerals refined on the island, Economy Minister Kung Ming-hsin said on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump’s administration has stepped up efforts to secure US supplies of critical minerals after China rattled senior officials and global markets last year by withholding rare earths required by American automakers and other industrial manufacturers.
Trump last week launched a US strategic stockpile of critical minerals, called Project Vault, backed by $10 billion in seed funding from the US Export-Import Bank and $2 billion in private funding.
While semiconductor powerhouse Taiwan is not formally part of that scheme, it has previously held talks with the United States on how it can help, given Taipei’s concerns about over-reliance on a China-centric supply chain.
China views Taiwan as its own territory and has stepped up its military threats.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Kung said the ministry’s Geological Survey and Mining Management Agency would go to the United States to assess rare earths deposits there.
“Specifically, what rare-earth elements they contain and whether they are suitable. In other words, whether those are the rare earths we actually need. So we still need to investigate,” he said.
Given Taiwan does not mine such elements itself, it can instead play a role in refining the materials from other countries, Kung added.
“The technology is not an issue; the next step is scaling up,” he said.
Taiwan consumes 1,500 metric tons of rare earth annually, a figure projected to rise to 2,000 metric tons given economic growth, Kung added.
“Our goal is to expand production capacity to meet half of our demand by then, strengthening the supply chain.
President Donald Trump’s administration has stepped up efforts to secure US supplies of critical minerals after China rattled senior officials and global markets last year by withholding rare earths required by American automakers and other industrial manufacturers.
Trump last week launched a US strategic stockpile of critical minerals, called Project Vault, backed by $10 billion in seed funding from the US Export-Import Bank and $2 billion in private funding.
While semiconductor powerhouse Taiwan is not formally part of that scheme, it has previously held talks with the United States on how it can help, given Taipei’s concerns about over-reliance on a China-centric supply chain.
China views Taiwan as its own territory and has stepped up its military threats.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Kung said the ministry’s Geological Survey and Mining Management Agency would go to the United States to assess rare earths deposits there.
“Specifically, what rare-earth elements they contain and whether they are suitable. In other words, whether those are the rare earths we actually need. So we still need to investigate,” he said.
Given Taiwan does not mine such elements itself, it can instead play a role in refining the materials from other countries, Kung added.
“The technology is not an issue; the next step is scaling up,” he said.
Taiwan consumes 1,500 metric tons of rare earth annually, a figure projected to rise to 2,000 metric tons given economic growth, Kung added.
“Our goal is to expand production capacity to meet half of our demand by then, strengthening the supply chain.
Latest updates
Recommended
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.