Almost at the end of the extension of the exemption from tariffs on basic necessity products, the Customs of the Republic of Cuba (ACR) reported the confiscation of more than 57,000 Enalapril pills brought by a single individual to the island.
“People are bringing large volumes of merchandise for commercial purposes,”
said Nelson Cordovés Reyes, head of ACR.
Specific cases revealed by the head of the agency indicate that not in all cases the regulation is used to solve a medical problem, but for hidden commercial activities.
In the specific case of Enalapril, an antihypertensive medication, on the street market, a blister pack can be sold for about 250 CUP, a figure too high for an average Cuban and sick person, without a salary that could not cover the necessary amount for a month.
On the other hand, one would only have to do a simple mathematical calculation to know how much the commercial operation of this person would have turned out if it had not been detected.
It would be approximately 5700 blister packs of 10 pills that at 250 CUP each would generate approximately one and a half million Cuban pesos, a round business.
In his statements, Cordovés also referred to other products exempt from tariffs such as soft drinks and potatoes, which some travelers bring by the hundreds of packages and boxes and that obviously are not to give away, but also to sell.
The official added that these travelers with large volumes of merchandise who have been detected claimed that the items are for other people, but Customs does not trust and warns: they are tariff-free, but not for commercialization.
For basic necessity products, such as hygiene products, food, medicines, and electric plants, no tariffs are paid by government indication given its inability to supply them to the population and at the same time due to the need for them.
A measure that has been extended for consecutive periods and will remain in effect until next March 31.
Along with this infraction also underlies the attempt to enter prohibited medications such as psychotropics, of which 73,000 pills have been seized this year.
The revelations become a clear warning to those who arrive at Customs points with high volumes of tariff-exempt cargo and that may be interpreted for commercial purposes.
The improper use of the facility implies not only the violation of the measure that can generate the immediate seizure of the merchandise but also generates “other types of decisions” and delays in the attention to the rest of the travelers.
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