AREQUIPA, Peru – Cuban-American citizen Mirtza Ocaña was sentenced to five months in federal prison after attempting to bring more than $100,000 in cash into the United States illegally.
A report of Telemundo 51 notes that Ocaña, 39, of Tampa, was arraigned by U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who also fined her $10,000 and forfeited the smuggled money.
The incident occurred on February 5 when Ocaña was detained while trying to bring a considerable amount of undeclared money onto a flight from Cuba. According to court records, Ocaña had returned to the United States on a flight from Cuba and, when questioned by law enforcement agents, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) declared that it had no cash to report.
However, during a search of his luggage, agents found more than $31,000 in hidden cash. When questioned, Ocana confessed to having been involved in smuggling money from Cuba to USA on a regular basis. According to his confession, he made these trips between two and three times a month since June 2023, earning between $1,000 and $2,500 for each trip.
Additional investigation revealed another $71,300 hidden among Ocaña’s clothing items, bringing the total amount of money found to approximately $102,700.
Records of entries and exits from the United States indicate that since May 29, 2023, Ocaña made 45 trips to Cuba.
A source linked to the Department of Justice, who preferred not to be identified, mentioned Strong Coffeelast March, that collaboration between authorities is common in cases of human trafficking, immigration fraud and money smuggling, although it did not specify any collaboration in this case.
The source considered “very likely” that officials from Cuba and the United States are cooperating in Ocaña’s case and did not rule out that the investigation includes the company Ocana & Paradise LLC, registered by the Cuban in Florida in September 2023.
“What seems less credible is that the accused had direct contact with an official as high-ranking as a minister to transport money,” the source commented. And he added: “It is more likely that he had contact with intermediaries for these operations, and that will be the focus of the investigation.”
However, a source close to the deposed Cuban Economy Minister Alejandro Gil and consulted by CubaNet He assured that during the interrogation Ocaña claimed to work for the former official of the Cuban regime and that during 2023 he carried out several operations to traffic dollars extracted from Cuba.
