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04/15/2006:

"Cuba claims drug war victory, without US help"

BOCA DEL TORO, Cuba (Reuters) - Flying over chains of sandy keys in a clattering old Soviet Mi-17 helicopter, Col. Jorge Samper declares a Cuban victory over South American drug traffickers -- with no thanks to the United States.

Communist Cuba wants to cooperate with its bitter political enemy in the war on narcotics, but is getting no response from Washington, says Samper, deputy commander of the Cuban Coast Guard.

Colombian smugglers have used the hundreds of tiny secluded islands off Cuba's long north coast as drop sites for bales of cocaine and marijuana to be picked up from the sea by speedboats for delivery to the United States.

Despite scarce resources to patrol its waters other than slow-moving Soviet-era torpedo boats, Cuba says it has the problem under control.

"The drug trafficking through Cuba, especially by sea, has been controlled. The traffickers have gone elsewhere," Samper told foreign reporters on a tour of coastal observation posts along the north coast of eastern Cuba.
au.news.yahoo.com