The fight against drug trafficking, a priority for the EU-Caribbean partnership

The Caribbean islands constitute one of the principal hubs for drugs produced in Latin America and destined principally for Europe. This is a cause of tension for both the European Union countries and a number of Caribbean countries where drug traffickers rule in certain urban neighbourhoods. The Caribbean is also a platform for money laundering.

The fight against drug trafficking in the Caribbean scored a success with the arrest, a year ago, of the alleged Jamaican drugs baron, Christopher “Dudus” Coke. Regarded as something of a Robin Hood figure by the poorest but as a dealer in violent death by the United States, he was extradited to New York where the US authorities accuse him of “plotting to traffic in marijuana, cocaine and illegal arms”. While the United States has long been very active in fighting drug trafficking, over the last decade the EU has also targeted policy at this area. 

In 1996 the European Commission, followed by several Member States, was the principal contributor to the five-year regional action plan for drug control, known as the ‘Barbados Plan of Action’. “Drug trafficking, and the associated crime and armed violence, are issues that must be taken into account as they represent a threat to the political and social life of Caribbean society and prevent the creation of an appropriate environment for investing in sustainable growth,” says the European Commission in its Communication on the new EU-Caribbean partnership initiated in 2006 (http://ec.europa.eu/development/icenter/repository/communication_86_2006_en.pdf).It goes on to say that: “The Caribbean is not, for the moment, a drug producing region, but is regarded as a major place of transit for drugs bound for Europe, as Central America is for the United States.”  

Four years later, in April 2010, the European Union and Latin American and Caribbean countries adopted the ‘Madrid Declaration’, which lays down 34 actions and programmes to be implemented, ranging from the fight against laundering of drug money to social reintegration for people who have stopped taking drugs. 

Copolad Programme

In particular, the Madrid Declaration welcomes the programme approved by the European Commission at the end of 2009 to combat drugs in the region: Copolad, or Cooperation Programme between Latin America and the European Union on Anti-Drugs Policies. Allocated 6 million euros over four years, it aims to consolidate the political dialogue between the EU and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean in the field of drugs, to strengthen national drug observatories and to provide them with the necessary capacity aimed at reducing supply and demand.

Marie-Martine Buckens