Connecting the dots
From El Herald: Venezuela y Cuba firman acuerdo de cooperación marítima Venezuela and Cuba sign maritime cooperation agreement (my translation. I sure as heck wish the Miami Herald would publish in English the stories they publish in Spanish. It would save me a lot of time.)

El convenio contempla la “libertad de tráfico con reciprocidad y beneficio mutuo; la inclusión de buques fletados por la empresa nacional; la facilitación del tráfico marítimo para fomentar el envío”.
Las autoridades de ambos países permitirá la inclusión de embarcaciones fletadas sólo si se emplean para el comercio bilateral.

The agreement oversees the “freedom of reciprocal [maritime] traffic for mutual benefit; including ships chartered by the nations; the easing of maritime traffic for shipping”.
Both countries’ authorities will allow the inclusion of [private] chartered vessels only if they’re used for bilateral commerce.

Don’t miss Monday Morning (Lebanon) op-ed article Cuba, Venezuela: A strategic alliance

It’s not just oil and legal trade, it’s also drugs: Vinculan a Raúl Castro con el narcotráfico Raúl Castro [Fidel Castro’s brother] linked to drug trafficking:

Jhon Jairo Velásquez Vásquez, ”Popeye”, quien fuera secretario privado y jefe de seguridad del extinto narcotraficante Pablo Escobar Gaviria, reveló ayer que Raúl Castro, vicepresidente cubano, mantuvo estrechos y constantes contactos con el cartel de la cocaína de Medellín y protegió durante años embarques de droga que llegaron a Miami a través de Cuba.
En declaraciones al corresponsal , cedidas ayer a El Nuevo Herald, ”Popeye” aseguró que el enlace de Raúl Castro con el cartel de Medellín fue el capitán cubano Jorge Martínez Valdés, quien viajaba repetidamente a Colombia para reunirse con Escobar.
”Popeye” declaró a TVE que sobre los movimientos de cocaína ”quien sabía era Raúl Castro, era el que estaba enterado porque era el contacto directo”. El intermediario, precisó, “era el capitán que vino a Colombia”.

Jhon Jairo Velásquez Vásquez, a.k.a. Popeye, former private secreaty and chief of security for the late drug kingpin Pablo Escobar Gaviria, revealed yesterday that Cuban vicepresident Raúl Castro maintained close and constant links with the Medellín drug cartel and for years protected drug shipments that arrived in Miami via Cuba.

During an interview with Juan Restrepo, reproter of Televisión Española, TVE, which was sent to El Nuevo Herald, Popeye stated that Cuban captain Jorge Martínez Valdés was Raúl Castro’s liaison with the Medellín cartel. Martínez Valdés travelled frequently to Colombia to meet with Escobar.

Popeye stated that “the one that knew about cocaine shipments was Raúl Castro, because he was the direct contact”. The go-between was, he asserted, “the captain that came to Colombia”

I wouldn’t be rushing to close too many Naval bases in the Gulf, folks. The Coastguard’s already got its hands full.