Fentanyl “Kingpin” Arrested in Cuba

Fentanyl “Kingpin” Arrested in Cuba

A Chinese fentanyl kingpin known as Brother Wang has been arrested in Cuba after trying to enter the island with a fake passport, ​El País reports. Once Cuba finishes its interrogations, Wang – who is accused of moving thousands of kilograms of drugs and laundering millions of dollars – is set to be deported to Mexico, and from there on to the United States.

Cuba and the U.S. have worked together on anti-narcotics ever since the 1990s. During the final days of the Obama administration in January 2017, the countries formalized this longstanding cooperation by signing a law enforcement agreement. 

The first Trump administration reneged on part of the agreement by cancelling high-level meetings that were supposed to take place regularly. The Biden administration reinitiated law-enforcement dialogue in 2023, with U.S. anti-narcotics personnel collaborating with their Cuban counterparts, as we documented in this video.

But dialogue and cooperation seem unlikely given the current administration's hostility toward the Cuban government. This latest arrest and likely deportation, seems proof positive that even without U.S. support, Cuba remains committed to stopping the flow of drugs to the United States.