Caribbean Review: Is French Guiana the Key to Beating Drug Trafficking?
In 2024, French authorities reportedly seized over 49 tons of cocaine through counternarcotics efforts within their territories in the Caribbean and at the French port of Le Havre. This marked a dramatic surge in seizures, as French authorities had confiscated over 27 tons of illegal narcotics the previous year. As Senators in the French parliament fear France’s descent into a narco-state, the launch of counternarcotics operations has been most successful in French Guiana but only through the cooperation with other bordering nations like Brazil and Venezuela. In the global battle against illegal drug trafficking, French Guiana is emerging as a flashpoint by which European, South American and Caribbean nations have the opportunity to neutralize this destabilizing industry.
French Guiana is an overseas department and region of France that sits on the South American continent bordering Suriname and Brazil. Its unique status as a territory of France provides incalculable value to cocaine smugglers wishing to access European markets as French Guianans have European Union passports and use the Euro.
“Island Hopping”
Through the strategy of “island hopping”, cocaine smugglers ship their product from countries like Colombia, Peru and Bolivia to Suriname, crossing the porous border into French Guiana where then the product is flown to France or shipped off into the Caribbean. In the Caribbean, “go-boats”, or small high-speed boats, are used by smugglers to jump from island to island until they reach a major port like that of the Caucedo Port in the Dominican Republic to then smuggle goods to Europe.
While French Guiana is certainly the largest territory to be riddled with the effects of island hopping, territories in the Caribbean owned by the Netherlands and Spain also face the similar issue of standing as a target in the global cocaine trade. Of all the cocaine that travels to Europe, 70% is funneled through five ports in West Europe which include, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Le Havre, Valencia and Algeciras. Yet, only 19.3% of global cocaine captures have happened at these entry points. According to the European Union Drugs Agency, a 2021 report shows that more than half of the world’s seizures of cocaine occur at the departure points within South America at 52.6%. But one figure that favors drug traffickers is that seizures in the Caribbean only amount to 1% from the same study in 2019.
Through counternarcotics operations like Operation Jararaca which was conducted by a joint force of Brazilian and French authorities -stationed in French Guiana-, tons of cocaine are extracted from each raid and operation. This cross-border cooperation is central to combatting the nature of cocaine smuggling and the island hopping strategy as central to its effectiveness is the involvement of multiple countries. In 2024, France signed a New Action Plan of the Brazil-France strategic partnership to combat the illegal trade of drugs, human trafficking, and illegal mining among other crimes prevalent in the Eastern Amazon and within French Guiana. By pinpointing crimes with increased military presence coupled with increased information-sharing as part of the Action Plan, Brazilian and French authorities were able to more precisely target offenders and provide the region a much-needed improvement in security.
French Guiana’s Western Neighbor
Yet, these improvements only relate to French Guiana’s border with Brazil. The eastern regions of the Amazon in Brazil experience record-high violent crime due to cartels and criminal organizations exploiting low-surveillance areas. However, an equally serious issue arises from Suriname’s poorly monitored border with French Guiana. Whereas Brazil might have the capacity to increase police and military presence to focus on taming crime rates, Suriname’s relatively weak governance, low security capacity and corrupt officials have plagued a possible response.
Drug traffickers originating from Maracaibo hide the drugs along with legitimate goods like Coca-Cola and other products to suggest legal trading. The lax enforcement from both Surinamese and French officials along the Maroni River which separates the two nations, exposes amendable yet precarious issues that will fail to improve without the necessary investment and attention.
First, French officials must realize the incentive by which Surinamese drug traffickers smuggle cocaine to Europe and by association French Guiana. A kilogram of cocaine purchased in Albina, a border town in Suriname, valued at 3,800 dollars could sell for more than 35,000 dollars in French Guiana with one simple crossing of the Maroni. This creates a lucrative opportunity for drug traffickers willing to risk the journey from Suriname to French Guiana, utilizing routes that are among the least policed in the Caribbean and South America.
Next, the issue of drug trafficking and cocaine smuggling in particular requires a multilateral response and a particular focus on the Caribbean. By the simple logic that only 1% of the world’s cocaine seizures are situated in the Caribbean, drug traffickers have caught on and are conducting more of their operations, choosing to use smaller vessels and employing the aforementioned island-hopping technique to skip past surveillance and naval patrols. A staggering 50% of all cocaine seized within France in 2022 originated from the Caribbean, a region in which France can invest directly in. Instead of funding reactive measures at home to deal with the inflow of illicit drugs, the French parliament would be well-advised to direct their attention to French Guiana which accounts between 20%-30% of all cocaine within France.
Global North-South Partnerships are the key?
Investments for increased security, increased cooperation with neighbors and higher frequency of patrols and counternarcotics operations in French Guiana would give Europe the focus it needs to battle this complex issue. The flashpoint to counternarcotics in the region that French Guiana is, results from its status as a territory of France which unlike its neighbors in Suriname, Montserrat, Aruba, etc. can access the necessary funds to employ increased security measures. Overall, if the Caribbean region is to model French Guiana’s upward trajectory to continue the seizure of cocaine at all points on its transatlantic journey, global north-south cooperation is a must.
