Havana/Thousands of doses of more than 150 different medications were found by the Spanish Civil Guard and National Police in a house in Vilaboa, Galicia, which is listed as the headquarters of the Haydée Santamaría Cuban-Galician Association. The blister packs include drugs such as Rivotril, Lexatin or Lyrica – benzodiazepines used to treat anxiety – and along with them were also found more than five kilograms of cocaine, half a thousand packs of smuggled tobacco, hashish, more than 30,000 euros in cash and several weapons, including six shotguns.
As reported by the local pressthe association, founded in 2014, has not been active since 2020, but its president of Cuban origin is one of the nine detained in the police operation, three of whom are already in prison. Relatives of the woman defended the discovery of the medicines, saying that they were donations for Cuba. However, the agents estimate that they were actually sold in an illegal network and that the president of the association is the ringleader of the network, in which her son and another accomplice were also involved.
The association, founded in 2014, has not been active since 2020, but its president is one of the nine detained in the police operation
The official explained that as part of the investigations in Vilaboa, “a person was detected who distributed narcotic substances in significant quantities” and who operated in complicity with other people in the municipality of Sanxenxo. As progress was made in collecting evidence, “the presence of two organized and very active cells could be detected and identified, belonging to a single criminal group, dedicated to the sale and distribution of cocaine, hashish and tobacco,” which also operated in the municipality of Pontevedra.
Data from the investigations also indicate that the group – which bears the name of the heroine of the Revolution – was born with the objective of concentrating Cubans living in Galicia and had a significant presence in Vigo, where it concentrated 444 of the 2,518 people from the Island in the community.
On the island, 14ymedio has documented the black market sale of Alprazolam on Tulipán streets, in Nuevo Vedado; under the portals of Carlos III and Queen, in Central Havana; or in the Corner of Tejas, del Cerro. The drug is advertised alongside loose cigarettes, candies, lighters and packets of adulterated coffee.
