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Cuban anti-drugs officials have accused Jamaica of giving drug smugglers free rein in Caribbean waters and skies, according to a secret US diplomatic cable.
Members of Cuba's interior ministry and coast guard complained to the US and UK that their Jamaican counterparts stood idly by as traffickers zipped between the islands en route to the United States.
The accusation, reported in a secret US diplomatic cable, will strengthen suspicion that drug lords have bought the co-operation of Jamaican politicians and law enforcers.
"Cuban [interior ministry] officials contend that narcotics smugglers from Jamaica are utilising both Cuban airspace and waters to transport narcotics ultimately destined for the United States, but their repeated attempts to engage Jamaica on the issue have been ignored," wrote Jonathan Farrar, the US chief of mission in Havana.
A US coastguard drug interdiction specialist who worked closely with Cuban colleagues reported their being incensed by the Jamaicans' "complete lack of co-operation" in failing to share information, return calls or respond to tip-offs.
"Collectively and continually they express frustration over the government of Jamaica's consistent ignoring of Cuban attempts to increase the flow of drug-related information ... to increase interdictions and avoid 'being surprised by drugs'."
A British defence attache organised a meeting between Jamaican and Cuban officials in Havana "to quash growing frustration" between the two sides but the Cubans later complained that the visiting Jamaican officers "just sat there and didn't say anything".
Jamaica's government has said it is doing its utmost to combat the ruthless and versatile traffickers. Security forces nabbed the drug lord Christopher "Dudus" Coke in June after a violent manhunt in the capital, Kingston. Critics blamed the delay in hunting Dudus on his alleged links to the ruling Labour party.
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