Operation Montecristo: they disrupted a network that scammed Cuban exiles in Uruguay

The operation has started in Havana. There, Cubans who wanted to flee the Castro regime to settle in Uruguay or make an intermediate stopover on the road to the United States were captured there..

First they went from Cuba to Guyana, where you don’t need a visa to enter. Once the payment had been made, which had been previously agreed, they were transferred to a house where they would be safe until the arrival of other travelers. There they were divided according to the final destination and the amount of money in possession.

The next step was to be transferred by land to Boa Vista, a town in northern Brazil very close to the border with Guyana. There they also stayed in a house provided by the organization and did not continue until they were able to resume their journey safely. They traveled by bus or domestic flights all over Brazil, passing through Manaus and Porto Alegre.

They ended up in Brazilian cities on the border with Uruguay such as Chui or Santana do Livramento from where, later, they would enter Uruguay. Once inside, some settled as refugees and others again made contact with illegal human trafficking networks. They billed them between $ 6,000 and $ 7,000 that, according to the Interior Ministry, the parents of Cubans themselves paid from the United States.

After several months of intelligence work, INTERPOL and the DGLCCO (General Directorate for the Fight against Organized Crime) determined how to make the international criminal organization dedicated to the smuggling of Cuban migrants.

A house search was carried out in Montevideo, finding evidence of payments to Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico and Peru. Along with the money, the original Cubans’ passports were also sent so that they could be illegally manufactured and Cubans could travel with them.

After investigation 34 people involved in the trafficking network who requested refuge were arrested. All of Cuban nationality, there are 21 men and 13 women, aged between 35 and 45 years old.

Twelve of these people were convicted of the offense of using a false public certificate, with a six-month prison sentence, which will be served under a probationary regime. 18 visas and 34 passports were also confiscated.

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