Young Cuban Accused of Currency Trafficking Faces Severe Penalties

The spike in violence currently sweeping through Cuba fails to mobilize the regime's police machinery as effectively as economic crimes and political persecution do. This is evidenced by the police's inaction in any of the murders committed on the island this month, intervening only after conflicts had escalated. Yet, there are ample resources for complex operations such as the one last year that led to the arrest of young Cuban Roberto Nodarse Rodríguez (born in Havana on January 24, 1991). He was imprisoned on November 8, 2023, accused of selling dollars.

The incident occurred in 10 de Octubre, but the DTI (Technical Investigations Department) also extended their raid to Los Pinos (Arroyo Naranjo), where his cousin, Cristhofer Milán Lorenzo, aged 20, was arrested. Raised together, the two are like brothers. Cristhofer was taken after an undercover DTI agent offered to sell him $1,000. From his grandmother's house in Majjata 110, between Finlay and Naranjito in Los Pinos, officers confiscated 2,200 euros. This is supposedly the evidence against him. The young man was released on December 29 of last year. His mother lives outside Cuba, and his father is a pilot, both sending money to the island. The prosecution now claims that some of the euros were counterfeit, but there is no documented record of the bill numbers, making it a case of the public ministry's word against the family's.

Roberto Nodarse did not fare as well. Authorities seized a car (a new Peugeot) that was not even his; it belonged to his best friend, who is traveling abroad and had asked him to take care of it. They also confiscated 12,230 USD, 2,995 euros, 200 Swiss francs, and 210 Canadian dollars found in his house, which was searched without a warrant and with witnesses who were not from the neighborhood and have since emigrated to the United States. The family claims that the officers did not document the amount of money seized.

Now, Roberto Nodarse faces at least five years in prison. His acquaintances assert that the money found in his home in 10 de Octubre had been sent by his family abroad to renovate, buy refrigerators, and stock a state-assigned café. Those who know him blame the neighborhood informant, Lucía Romero López, who also owns a café, for maliciously tipping off the authorities to eliminate competition.

Roberto Nodarse has been in custody since November 8, 2023, in 1580, Havana. Doctors suspect he contracted a bacterial infection in jail and he is currently hospitalized with cramps in his limbs in bed 10 of the penal ward at La Covadonga hospital in the Cuban capital. His wife and child are struggling as he was the family's sole provider. She does nails, but it is not enough to make ends meet.

Appealing Provisional Detention

Roberto Nodarse's family appealed the provisional detention measure (claim 85/24) after he was charged with an economic crime (preparatory phase file 273/23) for allegedly engaging in the illegal trafficking of national currency, foreign exchange, and precious stones. The General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic informed them in April of this year, in a document accessed by CiberCuba, that provisional conclusions of the process were already available and that four months ago, only the forwarding of the proceedings to the Municipal People's Court for the opening of the oral trial remained pending.

According to the DTI investigation, the contacts for "the illicit activity" were conducted through Roberto Nodarse's phone, where people made money transfers via the Transfermóvil application. He is also accused of exchanging Cuban pesos for money deposited in freely convertible currency (MLC) cards. Additionally, during the search of his home, officials found two cards allegedly used for these transactions.

Given all this, the provincial prosecutor of Havana, Idania María Maso Pérez, advised the family in writing that if they disagree with the judicial sentence after the trial, they have ten business days from the notification to appeal the judge's decision. After receiving a response, if they remain dissatisfied, they can file for cassation.

The family demands justice, believing their son will be judged harshly despite the lack of evidence against him, and they denounce irregularities in the process. One example is that the same undercover agent who tricked Cristhofer Milán into exchanging dollars was present during the search and was asked to leave when another DTI agent noticed him. An elderly woman who visited Roberto Nodarse's house twice to exchange dollars and was twice told they did not engage in such activity also attended the operations. Furthermore, they emphasize the absence of records documenting the exact amount of money seized and now face additional accusations of possessing counterfeit bills.