Washington, January 6 (RHC) -– U.S. officials acknowledged the prestige of Cuba in the fight against drug trafficking and expressed the need to expand cooperation accords between Washington and Havana, according to the Washington Post.

Former director for international operations with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)Mike Vigil said that Washington must work jointly with Cuba to increase capacities in the field.

Vigil, who was a DEA special agent for the Caribbean, said it would be crazy not to do it, according to The Post article, which admits that for years, the United States and Cuba have collaborated against drug trafficking and have shared information on the movement of boats and planes in the Caribbean Sea.

Meanwhile, retired General Barry McCaffrey, who was the anti-drug Czar at the White House and former chief of the U.S. South Command said that the Cuban government does not want to be a center for drug traffickers since they look at as a threat to their people, labor and economy.

The Post explains that in 2013, Cuban courts punished 628 persons charged with drug-related cases, 273 of whom were given prison sentences ranging from 6 to 10 years.

In sharing information on the drug situation in the area, the Cuban government notified the US Coast Guard about the presence of suspicious boats on real time on 27 occasions in 2013.