Why Cocaine Seizures in French Caribbean Have Surged in 2024

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Record-breaking cocaine seizures in the French Caribbean in 2024 appear to be the result of rampant cocaine manufacturing in Latin America, along with increased cooperation between French and Venezuelan authorities.

In July, French officials seized two significant drug shipments in the Lesser Antilles. On July 8, the navy seized 1.2 tons of cocaine from a Venezuelan sailing yacht about 160 kilometers south of Martinique. A week later, on July 15, the French Gendarmerie in Guadeloupe seized 780 kilograms of cocaine and 26 kilograms of cannabis on one of the island’s beaches.

SEE ALSO: What’s Behind Falling Cocaine Seizures in the Netherlands and Belgium?

French officials have already seized more than 15 tons of cocaine in the French Caribbean this year, exceeding the close to 11 tons seized in 2023. The French Armed Forces of the West Indies described the seizures between February and May as “record-breaking.”

InSight Crime Analysis

While the sharp increase in seizures may indicate that more cocaine is passing through this route, French and Venezuelan authorities also appear to be cooperating more, which seems to have led to the uptick.

Cocaine output in Latin America has consistently broken records, year after year, since at least 2018. From 2010 to 2022, production climbed by 143%, reaching a peak in 2022 of more than 2,700 tons of cocaine. Meanwhile, small-scale coca growing has expanded from traditional Andean production countries to Venezuela, Guatemala, and Honduras, as technology has enabled the crop to thrive outside of its Andean birthplace.

A steady increase in cocaine production, along with rising drug use and expanding markets in Europe, Africa, and Asia, has resulted in more cocaine passing through French Guiana, Martinique, Saint Martin, and Guadeloupe in recent years. In a report presented to the French Senate in September 2020, it was estimated that between 15 and 20% of the cocaine reaching France comes from French Guiana alone. And in France, cocaine seizures have increased fivefold since 2012, reaching a record 27.7 tons in 2022.

The French islands are especially appealing to drug trafficking networks due to their strategic location. Situated in the easternmost corner of the Caribbean, they are geographically close to European shores, and lie between two of the region’s major cocaine dispatch points: the Dominican Republic to the north and Venezuela to the south.

SEE ALSO: France Dealing with Influx of Cocaine from Caribbean Territories

But rising seizure rates in the French Caribbean are not only due to increased cocaine traffic.

Cooperation and intelligence sharing between France and Venezuela has also intensified. Since October 2022, authorities have been increasingly intercepting and seizing maritime vessels leaving Venezuela with drugs and prosecuting those on board.

“Regarding the quantities seized in the framework of Franco-Venezuelan cooperation, there has been a steady increase in recent years,” an official from the French Embassy in Caracas told InSight Crime. From January 2024 to date, 6.7 tons of narcotic products have been seized in cooperation with the Venezuela government, they added.

The irony is thick. High-level authorities in Venezuela have been charged and convicted with trafficking drugs, and the government has partnered with criminal organizations for years. Yet, according to the French Embassy, nearly half of France’s seizures in the Caribbean can be attributed to its partnership with Venezuela.

*Feature image: The Guadeloupe’s gendarmes intercepted 780kg of cocaine and 26kg of cannabis. Credit: Gendarmerie de Guadeloupe Facebook page.

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