Courts of Granma and Santiago de Cuba impose sentences of up to nine years in prison for possession and traffic of cannabis.
Miami, United States. – In the context of a national campaign against drug consumption and trafficking, Cuban courts continue to issue severe sentences for crimes related to marijuana. In the eastern provinces of Granma and Santiago de CubaCitizens have received sentences between eight and nine years of deprivation of liberty, according to official reports.
The provincial channel CNC TV Granma He reported on Wednesday that in the city of Bayamo an oral and public trial was recently held in Chamber I of the Criminal the Popular Provincial Court, corresponding to the number 111 of the year 2025. The process was qualified as “exemplary” by the judicial authorities.
The defendant, whose identity was not revealed, was surprised by agents of the public order while carrying a marijuana wrapping in the Camilo Cienfuegos cast. According to the source, “prior compliance with all established procedural guarantees and due process, was sanctioned eight years of deprivation of liberty and other accessory sanctions.”
CNC TV stressed that “the sentence ends in the first instance, to a process where the severity and firmness with which a scourge that threatens public health, citizen tranquility and the stability of Cuban society is evidenced.”
The publication, originally shared in Alina Medina Friman’s Facebook profile, Provincial Chief Prosecutor of Granma, stressed that “the confrontation of drug trafficking and consumption and other substances with similar effects constitutes everyone’s responsibility.”
For its part, the Popular Provincial Court of Santiago de Cuba issued an even more severe sentence to another citizen prosecuted for the crime of traffic and marketing of Cannabis sativa. According to the Caribbean Channelthe defendant, 55 years old, was sentenced to nine years in prison in a trial held in the Crimes against State Safety Crimes, as a criminal function, under the number 64 of 2025.
The process originated following an operation carried out on September 26, 2024 at the intersection of the Pilar road and Martí street, in the Palma Soriano municipality. During the inspection, the agents intercepted the accused and occupied a backpack with a nylon package containing 230 grams of marijuana. The investigations concluded that the defendant acquired the drug in Palma Soriano to sell it at home in Santiago de Cuba.
In this case, the sentence also included accessory sanctions, such as the deprivation of rights, the prohibition of exit of the national territory, and the confiscation of both the drug and the money derived from its alleged commercialization. The crime was typified under article 235.1, subsection A, of the Cuban Criminal Code, which includes sentences between four and ten years of deprivation of liberty for activities related to illicit drugs.
According to the Caribbean channel report, the objective of the ruling was “to show the severity of criminal activity and prevent the occurrence of facts that violate laws and affect citizen security.”
The drug campaign has resulted in multiple similar trials during this year. In April, the same court in Santiago de Cuba sentenced two young people to eight and nine years in prison for consumption, cultivation and marketing of marijuana. One was arrested in July 2024 on a bus between Palma Soriano and countermastre, carrying small wrappers with marijuana and synthetic cannabinoids. The other was prosecuted for the cultivation of a plant of 1.50 meters high and the possession of almost 287 grams of dry leaves.
Both processes were framed in what the authorities have called as the “exercise of confrontation to drugs that are developed throughout the country”, a government strategy that has been harshly criticized for its eminently punitive approach.
In all cases mentioned, the courts invoked the same article of the Criminal Code and applied accessory penalties that include the prohibition of exit of the country and the confiscation of goods. The sentences have been presented by the official press as an example of the “severity and firmness” of the Cuban State before the drug phenomenon, without offering details on prevention or rehabilitation measures.
While the Cuban judicial strategy focuses on exemplary sanctions, the debate on the proportionality of penalties and the absence of public policies oriented to treatment, education and damage reduction grows. The sentences for possession and traffic of cannabis On the island they contrast with international trends, where many countries have advanced towards decriminalization or regulation of the use of this substance.
