The eternal battle against drug trafficking
More than 9.8 tons of drugs, cocaine according to reports, were seized last Friday at the Dominican Republic's model port, in a record seizure in the Caribbean nation. Just over 2 tons of cocaine had already been seized at the same port of Caucedo in November. The intercepted shipment had a market value of US$250 million, with Belgium as its presumed final destination. The drugs were traveling in 320 sacks hidden among bananas, a classic regional export product often used for these purposes. Guatemala is a bridge nowadays for maritime shipments from Ecuador and Colombia destined primarily for Europe and the United States. Although the cargo ship carrying the drugs seized last Friday originally set sail from Mexico, then more cargo was added at an initial stop in Guatemala and made another one in Honduras before arriving at Puerto Caucedo in the Dominican Republic. Caribbean authorities in Santo Domingo defended “[their] commitment [...] to continue [dealing] important blows to [...] criminal structures that attempt to use Dominican territory for their illicit activities". The recovered drugs will be incinerated this Monday.
SourceExpanding on the Ecuadorian dimension of this drug trafficking drama, in the last four years more than 300 tons of drugs seized internationally have departed from a port in the South American nation. The main destinations are important coastal hubs of the old continent, located in Spain, Holland, and Belgium. For example, last month alone in Barcelona, nearly 3 tons of cocaine were seized coming from the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil, the capital of the province of Guayas, the main node in the spiral of violence that has plunged the country into a security crisis that last year saw no less than a presidential candidate assassinated in the capital. Los Lobos (The Wolves) gang dominates this lucrative and bloody market in Guayas.
Three alleged kidnappers of a minor lynched in Mexico
Once again, people took “justice” into their own hands by summarily and publicly executing three men accused of robbing and kidnapping a minor in the small municipality of Atzitzihuacan, Puebla state. Two men were tortured and burned, while the third was hanged. Some 300 villagers reportedly participated in the lynching. Between 2016 and 2022, a study by the prestigious Autonomous University of Mexico recorded just over 1,400 of these rule of law-eroding events.
SourceDonald Trump insisted this Sunday in an interview with NBC on his plan for massive deportations of illegal immigrants in the United States. Aztec President Claudia Sheinbaum, for her part, again argued in favor of the contribution made by Mexicans to the U.S. economy, and continues to show the fentanyl problem as a situation to be solved mainly on the U.S. side—that is, the key is in the demand. So, Sheinbaum instead puts the spotlight on the smuggling of weapons from the north and the bloody cost of this whole tragedy for her country as well. She also again gave Trump a commercial nod by defending the links between North American economies as the main alternative to face China.
Insane news again emerging from Haiti 👇
Over 100 civilians, mostly elderly and voodoo practitioners, were killed in a Port-au-Prince slum by Mikano's gang, according to @RnddhAyiti & @CombiteD. Victims were accused of using witchcraft against the leader's son.
— Diego Da Rin (@diego_darin) December 9, 2024
This is the 2nd mass killing in #Haiti in just 2 months. pic.twitter.com/YDPbN7mDvA
Amid so much tension in the bilateral relations between Cuba and the United States, a note of peace and joy 👇
Hemingway look-alikes visit Cuba and some of the late writer's favorite places https://t.co/mlr4LGfB9F
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 8, 2024
And this is all for our report today. I have referenced the sources dynamically in the text, and remember you can learn how and where to follow the LATAM trail news by reading my work here. Have a nice day.
