In South America, drug cartels, not afraid of corruption and violence, made their way to Europe. In many European cities, finding cocaine has become as easy as ordering pizza.
The drug cartels of South America turned coca leaves grown on the high mountain plateaus of Bolivia, Colombia and Peru into drugs and transported them to Europe.
Europe has become one of the most lucrative markets for large drug cartels, which are not afraid to use corruption and excessive violence, which work so well in South America.
According to the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), around 3.5 million Europeans used cocaine in 2021. This number is four times higher than it was 20 years ago.
Belgian federal police chief Eric Snoeck said the continent was hit by a “storm” with 240 tonnes of cocaine seized in 2021, according to Europol, almost five times more than a decade ago.
In Paris, France, narcotics commissioner Virginie Lahaye said, “Consumers prefer drugs that are delivered by someone who looks like a bicycle courier. They don’t have to go to scary residential areas in the suburbs.”
One drug courier told AFP, “I’m like the couriers rushing around in Paris delivering food. I take orders and deliver them. One is 70 euros, two is 120 euros.”
“REPLACED THE GOVERNMENT THAT NEVER EXISTED”
In South American countries where the rules of the cartels dominate, coca leaves, the raw material of cocaine, is the only source of income for the poor people.
José del Carmen Abril, a Colombian coca collector, relies on coca leaves to feed his eight children.
“Koka… replaced the government here that never existed. It helped us build schools, health centres, roads and homes,” said Abril, 53.
In a country where many earn no more than $7 (6.5 euros) a day, a coca grower can earn five times that. However, Del Carmen Abril said she was uncomfortable being called a “narco” and that other farmers working like her didn’t even earn “minimum wage”.
Although the US and Colombian “war on drugs” struggle has so far reached billions, peasants continue to grow more coca. Coca harvests in 2021 rose 14 percent to reach an all-time high of 1,400 tonnes, according to the United Nations.
Coca, which a coca collector collects for an average of 30 Euros per day, can cost more than a thousand Euros per kilo thanks to “Chemists”.
CARTELS AND THE EUROPEAN MARKET
Colombia has come to account for two-thirds of the world’s cocaine. Once mere intermediaries, Mexican cartels have since taken over nearly all of the market, from financing production to controlling cocaine trafficking.
While the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels in Mexico initially focused on their “natural” market, the United States, they later turned to Europe, where cocaine consumption was booming.
Most of the cocaine that crosses the Atlantic is transported in containers and hidden inside shipments of perfectly legal bananas, candy or canned food.
According to Europol estimates, the cocaine market in Europe is currently valued at street level between 7.6 billion euros and 10.5 billion euros.
“The US market is saturated, and cocaine is sold at 50 to 100 percent higher prices in Europe. Another advantage for smugglers is less deterrent prison sentences and more logistics options in Europe,” said Florian Colas, head of intelligence at French customs. .
VIOLENCE MOVED TO EUROPE
The unlawful acts of “kidnapping, murder, injury, corruption, violence” by South American cartels were transported to the port cities of Europe with the transportation of cocaine.
“Kidnapping, torture and murder. The money at stake is huge. The methods of criminal cartels have moved to our shores,” said Stephanie Cherbonnier of the French anti-drug office.
Brussels Chief Prosecutor Johan Delmulle has warned that the country may soon “be considered a narco state” due to gunfights on the streets of Antwerp.
Northern Europe’s major ports such as Antwerp and Rotterdam have been so shaken by drug violence that democracy itself has been threatened.
The cartels even dared to plot to kidnap Belgium’s justice minister.