The recent seizure of nearly two tons of cocaine in Guinea-Bissau and the arrest of three Colombians and a Mexican in the country has highlighted the progress of criminal groups, seeking alternatives to reach Europe. Latin American Cartels In Africa.
Neither across the Caribbean and the Atlantic, by air and sea, nor across the mountains of Afghanistan. The major drug cartels are turning their attention to new routes in a hitherto unexplored territory: Africa.
Changes in the consumption of certain narcotics in the United States. In addition to more intense drug control policies in Turkey and other European countries, among other reasons, have caused numerous gangs, mostly Latin American, to begin to move their structures to the African continent. Where institutional weakness and corruption, basic conditions for a successful business, abound, according to a report in The Economist.
In September, criminal investigation police in Guinea-Bissau, a small country on the west coast of Africa, seized 1,660 kilograms of cocaine behind a fake wall in a house in the town of Canchungo.
In two neighboring residences there were another 250 kilos of the same drug, destined for Mali and then Europe. Last March the amount seized was 800 kilograms.
Authorities arrested a dozen people linked to the shipment. Including three Colombians and a Mexican, as well as 18 cars and a sports boat.
Latin American Cartels In Africa
But although the reported volume was a record not seen for decades, the reality seems more complex. For leading analysts quoted by The Economist, the surprise is not the large number of drugs seized, but that the police decided to seize them and report progress to the United Nations (UN).
At least since 2005, when the first Colombian cartels first set foot in Guinea-Bissau, trafficking has been a constant in this country. Always with the help and support of the police and the government on duty.
Is estimated to reach ten tons a year, an amount that when valued at the final price of drugs in Europe, is as much as the country’s gross domestic product. At the same time, the security forces did not make seizures or report the problem to the UN.
But now the criminal investigation police, the most transparent among the country’s security forces, seem to be trying to fight criminal gangs, corrupt police and the government, which denies them access to basic resources.
It will be difficult. Guinea-Bissau is just 3,000 kilometers from the Brazilian coast. One of the closest African countries to Latin America, suffering from extreme poverty. A weak state and an essentially corrupt political class.
It is the ideal terrain for the Colombian cartels, which arrived in 2005 during the government of President João Bernardo “Nino” Vieira.
President João Bernardo “Nino” Vieira.
Vieira was killed by his own soldiers in 2009, a fact that many later attribute to Colombians. In 2012 the army, no less corrupt, launched a coup d’état.
Since then, it is believed that the presence of Latin American drug traffickers has grown. And that the money generated by drugs is the main source of funding for political parties and candidates.
In this regard, Guinea-Bissau held its presidential elections on Saturday and the population of nearly two million people is still waiting for the results. In case none of the candidates obtain more than 50% of the votes, there will be a second round on December 29.
The cartels do not pay in cash, expensive to launder, for the transit service but in drugs, which are then sold in the country. So the problem of consumption is also coming to the region to stay.
Guinea-Bissau is not the only one
A similar situation occurs in Cape Verde. Where nine tons of cocaine were seized on board a ship from Brazil in February.
Like the Colombians, in this case the First Capital Command (FCC), a huge cartel based in São Paulo, weaves its nets here.
And the problem is likely to be replicated in more countries.
After a fall in drug use caused by the global financial crisis of 2009, consumption levels in recent years reached record levels, especially in the richest countries.
Cocaine production and Latin American Cartels In Africa
This high demand has boosted cocaine production in Colombia, where gangs benefited from the dismantling of the FARC’s Marxist guerrilla to occupy their territories and expand coca cultivation.
Also in Afghanistan, where poppy fields, used to make heroin, have multiplied following the departure of the bulk of NATO troops in 2014 and the resurgence of the Taliban.
But although demand and supply are on the rise, distribution has faced problems. Increased U.S. border control and the partial legalization of marijuana have placed obstacles in the way of criminal organizations dedicated to cocaine.
Turkey
Similarly, Turkey’s more effective fight against drug trafficking within its territory has limited the arrival of heroin to Europe by land.
The answer, again, is Africa, as a preliminary step for the drug to reach the European continent.
Also, a shift from cocaine to heroin and fentanyl, both easier to transport, has begun to be noticed.
In this regard, on Sunday the Spanish authorities captured for the first time a mini-submarine loaded with three tonnes of cocaine, which had passed through Cape Verde on its way to the old continent.
Although it is a novelty for Europe, the capture of “narco-submarines” is frequent in Latin America and the Caribbean.
South American traffickers, especially Colombians, after repeatedly using airplanes and fast boats, also resort to more sophisticated submarines to carry the drug to Mexico and then to the United States.
