The dark chapter of drug trafficking that contaminated the image of Elcano, where Leonor now navigates

The training ship Juan Sebastián Elcano is already heading to the Canary Islands, with Leonor de Borbón on board as midshipman, on a six-month journey through different ports in America. The farewell this Saturday, in the port of Cádiz, to the relatives of the crew was full of emotions and Queen Letizia herself could not contain her tears when saying goodbye to her daughter.

This brig-schooner where young marines who aspire to be Navy officers are trained was built in 1927 and in these 87 years it has sailed the seas around the world and visited more than 71 different countries, always carrying the flag of Spain and its seafaring tradition.

However, The dark event that occurred in 2014 constituted an earthquake with a strong impact on the reputation of the Navy and that of the historic sailboat.a scandal with which an attempt was made not to make too much media noise and which has never been sufficiently clarified. In April 2014, during its five-day stopover in Cartagena de Indias, more than 150 kilos of cocaine were allegedly brought onto the ship, apparently delivered by a drug trafficking gang.

On the next stop in New York, some military members of the crew allegedly delivered 26 kilos of drugs to other traffickers. The case, investigated by the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), led to the arrest of six sailors and the ship’s cook, who declared themselves innocent and unaware of the identities of those who could have hidden the drugs in a compartment intended for store cables and candles. The fact is that four years of investigation were not enough to find the real culprits..

In some media there was talk of the lack of control, which, according to the judge in the case, reigned on the ship, where the military guard did not register the sailors who boarded and disembarked at the different ports of the voyage, which meant that Any member of the crew was able to ship the cocaine without anyone registering.. Finally, seven crew members, six soldiers and a cook, were prosecuted for dealing with minor quantities of drugs and sentenced to sentences of up to three years in prison, although the sentence did not solve the mystery of who allowed the drugs to enter the ship. Throughout the investigation, some witnesses and defendants stated that drug consumption and trafficking in Elcano had been common for years. Once the process was completed, the then commander of the training ship, Enrique Torres Piñeyro, was promoted to vice admiral by the then Minister of Defense, María Dolores de Cospedal, while Navy sources considered that he had incurred ‘excessive trust’ in his crew. .

As a consequence of that episode, safety regulations were drastically tightened after the scandal and the Juan Sebastián Elcano on which Leonor de Bobón sails is an example of strict compliance with the regulations that prevail in the Spanish Navy.