Fidel And Raul Castro Caught With Cocaine-Filled Cuban Ship, Says U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart

One U.S. representative is blaming Fidel and Raul Castro for a Cuban ship filled with 410 kilos (882 lbs.) of cocaine that was intercepted in the island nation on Thursday.

Panamanian authorities stated that they had found the ship in Colón, a small port about 50 miles north of Havana, where Fidel and Raul live. The massive haul of cocaine was disguised inside of containers of molasses, and appeared to be destined for Belgium, reported Newsmax.

Other than that, scant details are available about the cocaine discovery, but that hasn’t stopped Florida Republican representative Mario Diaz-Balart from accusing the Castro regime of involvement. Diaz-Balart, a Cuban-American, argued that strong indications from the past pointed to Fidel or Raul being involved in the shipment somehow, reported Fox News Latino.

“The Castro regime has once again been caught red-handed violating international law and norms. This time, it reportedly was caught red-handed sending hundreds of kilos of cocaine to Belgium. This is only the latest in the [Fidel and Raul’s] long history of links to narcotrafficking.”

Though no other cocaine stashes have been unearthed, the representative pointed to two instances in the recent past where the Castro regime had been involved in the illicit trade of weapons. One of them was a 240-ton delivery to North Korea that the country later publicly took responsibility for, reported Al Jazeera. Both of them occurred after Fidel relinquished power to Raul in 2008.

Diaz-Balart has been a staunch opponent of the warming of relations between the Castro regime and the United States. It’s a value that is echoed by many others in his party, including leading GOP presidential candidates.

Despite whatever hold-up this boat full of cocaine may cause, Cuba has been making strides to normalizing its relationship with the United States in the past year. President Barack Obama visited the Communist country in March, meeting with Raul — though conspicuously avoiding former president Fidel, the Inquisitr previously reported.

The elder Castro has more or less rejected the easing of relations between the two countries. When Secretary of State John Kerry first traveled to the country last August, Fidel published a letter in state-run newspaper, Granma, denouncing the U.S. for waging economic and ideological war on the world in pursuit of its own interests. He ended the letter by affirming that the goal of Cuba’s Communist Party had always been the betterment of humanity.

“As has been expressed with clarity by Cuba’s Party and government, to advance good will and peace among all the countries of this hemisphere and the many peoples who are part of the human family, and thus contribute to the survival of our species in the modest place the universe has conceded us, we will never stop struggling for peace and the well-being of all human beings, for every inhabitant on the planet regardless of skin color or national origin, and for the full right of all to hold a religious belief or not.”

Culturally, Cuba’s leaders also thawed tensions by allowing The Rolling Stones to play a free concert in Havana, the Inquisitr previously reported. The Castro regime was, particularly in its nascent days, characterized by a rejection of American culture — which was something that even translated to British bands like The Beatles and The Stones.

Do you think Fidel and Raul Castro have anything to do with the boat full of cocaine?

[Photo by Jorge Rey/Getty Images]