AFRICA/GUINEA BISSAU – Not just cocaine: priests call for fight against drug trafficking

AFRICA/GUINEA BISSAU – Not just cocaine: priests call for fight against drug trafficking

Bissau (Agenzia Fides) – “As a Church, we are concerned about the damage caused by drugs, as they destabilize the country, ruin the economy and their trafficking is considered an easy way to get rich,” say the Catholic priests of Guinea-Bissau in a statement released at the end of their General Assembly. Drugs are a social scourge, the priests explain, as “there are deaths, families who take care of orphaned children and if we look at this whole scenario, we will see that drug trafficking causes instability in Guinea-Bissau and a significant increase in cross-border crime in our country.” It is precisely cross-border crime that has made Guinea-Bissau a major hub for cocaine trafficking from South America to Europe, via West Africa, the Sahel and then North Africa, since the early 2000s. The country's chronic political instability (17 coups d'état have taken place since independence in 1974) has allowed Colombian drug traffickers to establish themselves in the country, followed by the Italian 'Ndrangheta, the powerful mafia of Calabrian origin that plays a central role in the spread of the “white powder” around the world. The drug arrives by sea in the Bijagós Islands archipelago (88 islands of varying sizes, difficult to control by the weak and corrupt local military and police forces), where it is stored and then begins its journey via Senegal and Guinea Conakry to Mali and Mauritania, from where it is finally transported to Europe. Over the years, the countries of West Africa have gone from being simple transit countries for drugs to being an outlet for consumption (see Fides 29/06/2024). Not so much, and not only cocaine, but above all drug mixtures known as Kush. These mixtures have already caused social alarm in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Conakry (see Fides 27/10/2023 and 8/4/2024). With their statement, the priests of Guinea-Bissau make it clear that the problem also affects their country. “We call on the authorities of Guinea-Bissau to immediately engage in the fight against drug trafficking,” they explain. This is especially true since an analysis of Kush samples carried out by a Dutch institute on behalf of the governments of Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau revealed the presence of synthetic cannabinoids and nitazen, powerful synthetic opioids. The latter, also known as benzimidazole opioids, are causing concern in drug centers in the most developed countries because they are spreading to replace traditional opioids such as heroin. Nitazenes are up to 20 times more powerful than fentanyl, which in turn is 50 times more powerful than heroin and 80 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. It is therefore understandable that taking these substances has harmful effects due to their high addictive potential and the possibility of causing respiratory arrest. (LM) (Agenzia Fides, 04/07/2024)

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