Is this country addicted to drugs and drug trafficking? Hardly a week passes without fresh revelations of some ingenious initiative by inventive local entrepreneurs to send drugs to destinations somewhere in the western hemisphere.
The current series of stories that started in Canada last December are the latest chapter in the decade-long chronicle of serious trafficking. They seem to be revealing a bewilderingly widening network of culprits and show how deeply the drug trade has become embedded in the parallel economy.
In a flush of newness last October, US Ambassador John Jones said that the US Drug Enforcement Administration was “very keen” on working closely with local officials to establish a bureau of the US Drug Enforcement Administration. But he seems not to know that his predecessors have been trying unsuccessfully to do so for a decade. Up to March last year, President Bharrat Jagdeo repeated a request to US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon for the DEA to have a permanent presence in Guyana.
It is well known that the biggest impediment to the establishment of a DEA bureau has been this administration’s strange inability to provide safe and secure premises requested by the USA. That is just one sham skirmish in the administration’s phoney war on drugs. The launching of the National Drug Strategy Master Plan in June 2005 and the establishment of the Fuel Smuggling and Contraband Task Force in April 2007 are merely tactical feints to create the impression that there is a real campaign to eliminate narco-trafficking.
At present, the press is agog over the recent interception of several hundred kilogrammes of cocaine concealed in various commodities shipped from this country. But these crimes were uncovered by the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the Canada Border Services Agency not by Guyanese law enforcement agencies. That is the way it happens. The US and UK authorities have seized several shipments of cocaine concealed in coconuts, frozen fish, molasses, rice, timber and other commodities over the years.
The President has again called for developed countries “to do more to aid the fight here against drug traffickers” and asked for more equipment and training. But both the USA and the UK have provided assistance to the police and defence forces, the Coast Guard, the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) and the judiciary. The problem, as the US Department of State’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report iterates, is not about assistance, it is with the administration’s resistance to implementing important initiatives prescribed in its own National Drug Strategy Master Plan!
Meanwhile, the main existing counter-narcotics agency — CANU — remains starved of financial, human and physical resources. How can this small unit with six vehicles, no boats or aircraft, and employing only three dozen persons, half of whom are office-bound, deploy sufficient personnel to secure the country’s main legal international transit points, much less monitor the more numerous unofficial and illegal transit points on the Brazil, Suriname and Venezuela borders? How could CANU prevent the construction of illegal narco-trafficking airstrips in the near hinterland?
It is time to acknowledge that narco-trafficking is endemic in this country’s parallel economy and traffickers will thrive as long as the administration fails to fully implement a realistic strategy. US Ambassador John Jones should be reminded of the counsel of former Ambassador Roland Bullen who saw through the charade and told this administration frankly over three years ago: “For my government to invest more, it will need to see a greater return. Resources are success-driven and it is demoralising to see drug shipments originating in Guyana, seized abroad, while narco-criminals roam freely here.”
Where there’s a will there’s a way…..
To put it simply, this government lacks the will
Even former Minister Gail Texieria spoke out against the pervasisve influence of the local drugs cartel.
I hope Roger Khan gets justice in America…he has been waiting a long long time…so has Guyana
Why can’t the process simply start with tax authorities auditing the tax returns filed by these large business (assuming these businesses file income tax returns). If evidence cannot be provided to support the income and profits for these businesses then the consequences shoudl be enforced. That’s where the rubber meets the road….there are no consequences for illegal activity committed by high society individuals in Guyana…
thanks for this brilliant editorial
drug fighting or so.called drug fighting in Guyana is a farce as are many other ‘programs’ and ‘initiatives’ that are supposed to curb illegal activities
Efforts by the Guyana government to curb this criminal activity is all smoke and mirrors
…. it’s a given that GUYANA does not have resources to counter the movement of the cocaine coming into Gy ,, with all of the variables in the dynamics of the equation,,,,,, it would make sense then,, by intelligence to be more mindful of the exits from GY ,, be it by people ,, of people and /or collusion of informants which by summary will leave the “piper” open to the highest bidder !,,,,,
the piper can be made to suffer like the bidder ,, if the laws of the country are up held in the courts ,,to deal with all,, with the same measurement for having anything to do with cocaine in GUYANA !
certain elements of the parallel economy of the block that is “wall street” must be “demolished” b4 any such plan will take effect ! i don’t see this happening soon !….
so the beat goes on !……. and the piper continues to play ,,, for the protection of the highest bidder !!!!!!!!
the “mall” and the “transformer” is one of the many act’s in a play that is putting shakespeare to mediocrity ! the whole structure of the moral compass has been allowed to be “de-magnetised” for close to 4 decades ,, the “mindlessness” that is now a culture of more than just a whole generation is beyond re-configuration !….
the system is over loaded with parasites at every spectrum of the society “HIGH n LOW”… doan believe me ??????? look aroun yuh !,,,,
it’s not difficult to see ,, cos it happening everywhere by all !…
The answer to that question, is a very BIG YES.
It’s now a global fact that GY not only have an insatiable appetite for illegal drugs but has become a major drug transshipment corridor for drugs entering North America. The GY economy runs on, and prospers by this illegal activity. And the country is a safe haven for drug dealers. The PPP administration’s deafening silence and its resistance to implement important initiatives prescribed in its own National Drug Strategy Master Plan speaks volume about its willingness or lack thereof of eliminating this national scourge. The tarnishing of the good image of GY abroad can be laid at the doorsteps of this government.
Swat- Most Guyanese do not know that with the major drug wars in Mexico, and the drug cartels fighting over turf,the Colombians have a problem with the Mexican route.
They are now shipping through Venezuela, as you know Chavez got
rid of the DEA office that was based there sometime ago. Part of those shipment are now coming through Guyana with the assistance of Guyanese.
… “the tarnishing of the good image of GY abroad “can” be laid at the door steps of this govt”; needs to be put to critical analysis here!
let’s start with “when” in the early 80’s the cocaine first started to enter Gy ,, who were the first people that was given “political blessing” when the movement started from brazil thru lethem ,,until greed took over and everyone who felt lucky have their hands in the “cocaine jar” from the extreme of the western to the eastern border and the entire south western corridor that is so porous that it’s a virtual nightmare to even fathom a plan ! it wasn’t until late 90’s early 2000 that some authorities in the govt’s employ ,, became pawns of their own greed by the drug dealers ,, and then the ball spun out of orbit due to lack of control from the element of greed by all ,, culminating in mayhem with violence and murder !…
the rest is history ,, this govt; is NOT part of the problem ,, they inherited a problem of which they had no understanding of period ! which by extension,,, is they r unable to fix ,, for lack of knowing how !…..which is their guilty plea !….
anything beyond what i say here is throwing stones ! and one need to be very careful to have a well laden war chest of stones to throw !…. cos yuh might fine yuhself like de palestinians ,, tho,, the plan by the palestinians may yet work in their favour ! only time will tell !…..
I agree with this article, the President needs to show what he will be bringing to the table in order for him to get assistance from any country. He also needs to make sure that the living arrangements are safe for the people who are going to come and put their lives in danger to help control the drug smuggling in Guyana. I do not and cannot see in what way the government of Guyana is or has been trying to control the drug problem.
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Reading between the lines, one is steered towards the thought that the authorities are themselves involved at some level.
Of course it could just be bureaucratic malaise, incompetence and sloth that is behind the curious incident of the dog in the night time…but I doubt it.
the guyana government is as complicit in actively encouraging the growth of this cancer as those who carry, refine, package and distribute the commodity…yes..it is a commodity in the real sense of the word since its trade is helping to bolster the formal and informal economies of our country…and the govt. is doing nothing…nothing to curb activities related to it.