Nine men were charged by US prosecutors Tuesday for their alleged role in a West African drug smuggling ring that stretches across three (sometimes four) continents. This according to a Wall Street Journal report this morning which highlights the international character of those detained (a Nigerian, a Russian, a Colombian, two Ghanaians). The DEA report on the anti-drug operation (called “Operation Relentless”) which brought the drug ring down in Liberia says the following about the transnational nature of the inter-continental smuggling networks which connect the Americas, Africa, and Europe:
“During the last decade, drug trafficking organizations based in South America have increasingly used countries along or near the West African coast as trans-shipment hubs for importing massive quantities of cocaine to be later distributed in Europe or elsewhere within Africa. Through a combination of privately owned aircraft and maritime vessels, these organizations, predominantly based in Colombia and Venezuela, have transported hundreds of tons of cocaine, worth billions of dollars, to places such as Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone, Togo, Mali, Ghana, Nigeria, and Liberia. In so doing, representatives of these drug trafficking organizations have often sought to bribe high-level public officials with large cash payments and narcotics in order to ensure the safe passage, storage, and distribution of their cocaine shipments.”
The report, along with the Journal’s coverage, also notes that those involved in the smuggling network say cocaine shipments were to be supplied by members of the Colombian rebel group, the FARC. A CS Monitor piece [note: on second glance, this piece is not so new (2009) but was for some reason up again at the Miami Herald's site earlier in the week] also looks at South America-Africa drug connections, asking whether Colombian cartels may have been behind the assassinations of Guinea-Bissau’s president and Army chief. Here’s what that piece said about the presence of Colombian cartels in Guinea-Bissau:
“In recent years, Colombian drug cartels have begun flying small planes across the Atlantic, landing on tiny islands dotting the Guinean coastline. Since Guinea-Bissau has no navy to patrol its waters, the cartels were free to unload tons of cocaine destined for Europe. The drugs were then distributed to impoverished African migrants, who would carry the drugs north by boat to the shores of France, Italy, and Spain.”
According to David Zounmenou, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Tshwane, “This recent set of killings can be explained [as] the action of the drug traffickers, who would not allow anything to get in the way or to obstruct their links with Europe.” Zounmenou continues: “Drug trafficking is not a domestic matter anymore. It affects the stability of many countries, it affects systems of governance, and it allows groups to acquire weapons.”
Interestingly, these reports on Africa-Americas trafficking links come alongside other stories in recent days which hint at deepening relations, of a very different kind, between the two continents. Brazil recently announced the creation of an international television station for Africa. At the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean’s (ECLAC/CEPAL) annual meetings, held this week in Brasilia, President Lula da Silva said that when he leaves his post on January 1, 2011, he plans to “work on behalf of” Latin America, the Caribbean, and interestingly enough, Africa. “The two continents,” he said, “must become continents of dignity and respect.” [He also highlighted Latin America’s newfound political independence, slammed the Washington Consensus, and praised the various economic alternatives provided by the CEPAL, with its focus on a strong state that promotes development and social equality.] African nations, meanwhile, were meeting in France this week for the 25th Africa-France Summit. Among the demands of the continent’s leaders was a Brazilian favorite: comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council and the G-20 so that the developing world is better represented on issues of global governance.
Below the headline this morning:
· The Cuban government began moving political prisoners to jails closer to their respective homes Tuesday. The moves are part of a deal struck between the Cuban government and the Catholic Church which has been negotiating for the past two weeks with Raúl Castro. Reuters calls the deal a “modest humanitarian gesture” while family members say they hope the transfers are a “first step towards freedom for some of the island's 190 imprisoned dissidents.” A statement from the Church says six men arrested in a 2003 crackdown will be among the first to be transferred. Raúl Castro, the Church says, has also pledged that “ailing prisoners” would be moved to hospitals. [According to human rights groups, at least 26 prisoners are currently in poor health, but it’s not yet known how many prisoners will be moved in total.] And, says the BBC, the government has also promised to “stop harassing the prisoner’s wives’ group, the Ladies in White, who would be allowed to continue their weekly protest march” under the new agreement.
· Cuban musician Silvio Rodríguez arrived in New York this week to prepare for a show he plays this weekend at Carnegie Hall. He spoke to the press Tuesday. The Cuban Colada blog has bullet points on what he said, including his belief that the sentences against most political prisoners held on the island are too harsh. According to Rodríguez, a longtime supporter of the Revolution, “I think that by now a good many of them, if not all of them, should be out in the street.”
· In Washington, D.C., President Obama welcomed Peruvian President Alan García to the White House Tuesday. Trade, immigration, and “bi-lateral matters” [among them, narco-trafficking – although Reuters says “Peru’s cocaine problem” was “little mentioned”] were on the agenda, according to the AP. Obama also praised Peru as an “economic success story.” Sec. of State Hillary Clinton will be in Peru next week for the annual meeting of the OAS. She travels on to Ecuador, Colombia, and Barbados.
· With more on the Colombian elections this morning, the OAS said in a post-election communiqué that Sunday’s vote was “the most peaceful in four decades.” Compared with 2002, the Centro Integrado de Inteligencia Electoral says there was a 78% drop in “acts of violence” on election-day. AQ reports on post-round-one alliance-making. Juan Manuel Santos is seeking the backing of Conservatives and Radical Change voters while Antanas Mockus is hoping to secure the votes of the left-leaning Democratic Pole and perhaps some Liberals as well (the Liberal Party, however, has already announced it will not endorse either Mockus or Santos). And at the PBS Newshour on-line, Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue offers his analysis of Sunday’s vote and Santos’s surprising margin of victory.
· As the last 314 US troops departed Haiti, UN envoy Bill Clinton returned to the country Tuesday. His new mission, says the AP, is to “invigorate recovery from January's devastating earthquake and help millions end lives of poverty and danger.” [Tuesday’s trip was Clinton’s first since officially becoming co-chair of the committee that oversees the disbursement of $5.3 billion in international aid]. The AP says a lack of shelter remains Haiti’s most pressing need – particularly as hurricane season approaches. [On that issue, worries rose this week after experts announced this year’s hurricane season could be particularly intense because of warm Atlantic waters and a “waning the El Nino effect.”] Jacqueline Charles at the Miami Herald has more on Clinton’s visit while the Washington Post runs an editorial on Haiti, saying the US must not forget the country now that the US military is gone. “Now that the full-time presence of American boots on the ground is ending, it's critical that the administration not repeat this nation's long, sad history of on-again, off-again attention to Haiti's suffering.”
· After narrowly surviving a no-confidence vote (30-28), Jamaican PM Bruce Golding said Tuesday he plans to launch what the AP calls a “sustained assault on [drug] gangs.” No time frame for the beginning of such operations was provided, however. Addressing the parliament, here’s Golding in his own words:
“Gunmen who no longer flee when the security forces approach but engage them with vicious firepower must be confronted with the full force of the law. The time for equivocation is over.”
· In Brazil, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Gulnara Shahinian, says slavery continues in parts of the country – practiced by large landowners, businesses (the textile industry, in particular), and private contractors.
· Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim said his country will continue to oppose new UN sanctions on Iran – but would be forced to respect such sanctions should the Security Council as a whole approve them. Infolatam, meanwhile, has a very good recap of growing tensions/differences of opinion in the US-Brazil relationship.
· According to a new study from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Brazil was first among Latin American countries for its military spending in 2009. Venezuela, often criticized for its military purchases, was the country who most reduced its military expenditures in 2009, spending 25% less than one year prior, and coming in fifth in the region in terms of overall military spending (behind Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and Mexico).
· Finally, the New York Times has coverage of the devastation in Guatemala after Tropical Storm Agatha took the lives of at least 153 in the country over the weekend. El Salvador and Honduras were also significantly affected by the storm. You may also be trying to figure out how and why the now famous 330-foot-deep sink hole formed in the middle of Guatemala City. CS Monitor has the brief science behind the phenomenon.
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