In a recent episode of the podcast ‘Más allá del silencio’, journalist Rafael Poveda interviewed former drug trafficker Carlos Lehder, who provided one of the most explosive and detailed accounts of the connections between the Medellín Cartel and communist governments in Latin America during the peak years of drug trafficking.
Over the course of more than an hour, Lehder recounted his entry into Cuba in 1981, which he claimed was authorized directly by Castro’s leadership. He detailed negotiations over trafficking routes with military officials of the regime, meetings with Raúl Castro, and exchanges with Sandinista figures in Nicaragua, all interwoven with espionage, political interests, money, and betrayals.
Lehder described how he first established contact with the Cuban government while operating from the Bahamas, even as he became a target for the DEA. He received a formal invitation to land in Havana through a Cuban-American doctor. “When you arrive in a private plane to Cuba and are welcomed by high-ranking officials, that authorization does not come from a colonel; it comes from the top,” he emphasized during the podcast.
His main contact was Tony de la Guardia, a colonel from the Ministry of the Interior, who presented him with an ambitious plan to transform Cuba into a strategic drug trafficking route to the United States, under the direct control of the Cuban state. According to Lehder, the regime offered Cayo Largo, an island equipped with a runway and hotel, for the establishment of hangars, aircraft, and personnel, indicating that they did not just want to facilitate drug passage—they aimed to learn and manage the narcotics business themselves.
The proposal intriguingly included the utilization of the Cuban banking system for moving dollars, which Lehder criticized as a demonstration of a fundamental misunderstanding of the international drug trade.
In a particularly striking part of the interview, Lehder confirmed a direct meeting with Raúl Castro, who was then the Minister of the Armed Forces. He detailed how he was taken to a military facility, searched, and then presented to Castro during a brief encounter. “He didn’t say my name, nor did I reveal it, but it was evident they knew who I was and why I was there,” he noted.
The agreement proposed payments of $1,000 per kilo in exchange for safe passage through Cuba. However, Lehder withdrew from the negotiations upon realizing that the regime intended to operate directly towards Miami, using Cuban pilots and boatmen. “That was a fatal mistake. The Americans were watching that route,” he warned.
Years later, his fears were substantiated when several boatmen cooperated with the DEA, revealing the involvement of Cuban military personnel. This led to the execution of General Arnaldo Ochoa and Tony de la Guardia in a widely broadcast case known as Case Number One.
Lehder also discussed his interactions in Nicaragua, where he met key figures of the Sandinista revolution, including Tomás Borge, discussing air routes to Mexico in exchange for dollars and aircraft. One significant incident he recounted involved Pablo Escobar being photographed carrying cocaine at a Nicaraguan military airport—images taken by Barry Seal, a DEA informant—which nearly precipitated war between Nicaragua and the United States.
Throughout the episode, Lehder asserted that many of these events remained concealed for decades due to political interests and changes in U.S. governance. “The evidence against Raúl Castro reached a grand jury in Miami, but nothing ever came of it,” he concluded.
This gripping narrative sheds light on the complicated intersection of drug trafficking and political maneuverings during a tumultuous period in Latin America, revealing a side of the drug trade often shrouded in secrecy.