The philosopher and writer George Steiner said that “what is not named does not exist” and, whether due to weariness, boredom, or simply necessity (people also need mental health cures); Drugs and everything that surrounds them have happened or ‘wanted to happen’ these months to a second or even third plane in the province ofCadiz.
It could be said that, as a liturgy, summer, that which cures everything, is serving so that, as a shedding of skin, the towns most punished and sadly stained by this scourge fix their gaze on its great balm, tourism; cornering the always painful discourse of drug trafficking, marked this 2024 by The cruel murder of the two civil guards (Miguel Angel Gonzalez and David Perez) in the port of Barbate.
«Yes, the problem is still there, but by no means, Barbate is drugs and more drugs“We are a town of good people and very hard workers, who suffer from this problem like many others in Cadiz.”
«Look how our town is! Full of tourists enjoying our beaches, gastronomy and joy. So comfortable and without any problems that have to do with… drugs“, says one of the workers at the Mercado de Abastos, the holy grail of good fish and bluefin tuna from the almadraba.
And he is not wrong. Except for some actions, especially related to the ‘petaqueros’ (diesel suppliers for drug boats), and Operation Palma (the Civil Guard managed to dismantle a criminal organisation based in Villamartín, dedicated to drug trafficking in the Sierra de Cádiz); The Cadiz-drug tandem has lost prominence in the media.
It seems as if the drug traffickers had also taken a vacation period, leaving some waters, those of Cadiz, ‘fallow’, which continue to be the main ‘breeding ground’ for hashish trafficking from Morocco.
«Although it may seem otherwise, the reality is that drug clans have continued to operate in the summer.» «Those of us who, like me, have been in the area for 17 or 18 years, know that drug traffickers, their families and the entire operation that surrounds them, They don’t understand about vacations or anything like that.».
“Moreover,” highlights José Antonio Belizón, delegate in Cadiz of the Spanish Association of Civil Guards (AEGC), “In summer, drug trafficking clans make a killing on our coast”.
The reason is “very obvious”: the “lack of personnel” to cover the needs posed, above all, by the coastal front (260 kilometres between Sanlúcar de Barrameda and San Roque). With populations, such as Chiclana de la Frontera, Conil, Barbate, Tarifaetc. that double and even triple its inhabitants.
“We know that significant quantities of drugs are being moved along the coast, but we cannot certify this because we do not have enough personnel.” “We have not the slightest doubt,” he stresses, “that The drug traffickers are having their own August».
“The same thing happens with summer,” he says, “as with Champions League matches, Christmas or any other holiday period. We know that it is at these times when they work the most and move the most drugs.”
«The clans are fully aware that, as has happened again this summer, we have fewer and, at the same time, busier troops. And, as is logical to think, they take full advantage of these situations.» «To this,» adds José Antonio Belizón, «we must add that they have more and more technology and better means, which allows them to be more effective.»
An example of the fact that drug trafficking has not only continued, but has “intensified” are the numerous actions carried out around the ‘petaqueo’. The latest, last week, with the intervention of six boats and a van in the canals of Sancti Petri and Zurraque (Chiclana). The first, with 618 containers and 15,450 liters of fuel, and the second, with 81 containers and 1,620 liters.
“This large movement of ‘petaqueros’ is the most obvious proof that activity on the coast has increased in the summer months. The greater the need for fuel, the greater the circulation of drug boats.” At this point, the delegate of the Spanish Association of Civil Guards speaks of ‘black crimes’.
“It’s about,” he explains, “that even if we find stranded boats which we know have been used to transport hashish; Since there is no evidence, they are not counted.“We have the boat and we see the footprints, but there are no drugs: ‘black crime’.”
Crimes that “give a respite to the commanders and all those who have responsibility, since they are not counted and, as we know, they depend a lot on statistics.”
«To us, on the other hand, This type of crime makes us feel very helpless.The most common comment among the agents is ‘they’ve tricked us again’. These are crimes that are not seen and, consequently, they do not count.
A feeling of frustration that, even at this time of year, takes place in an atmosphere of “more threats, persecution, etc. against officials and their families.” “Increased because drug traffickers are aware that we are few and, therefore, much more vulnerable.”
“Nothing to do with those times (2007),” he recalls, “before the crisis. When there were many of us, working in all shifts and with very young people, very difficult to corrupt.” “Now,” he laments, “we are in drug territory, where we have lost authority.”
As for the summer troops, “the patchwork they are doing is taking a member from a barracks, for example from Barbate, and putting him together with one from Vejer to cover both towns. It’s crazy.”
«They have also offered civil servants the possibility of giving up their summer holidays for an extra 1,000 euros, I believe. An amount that is not at all attractive and which, in addition, is lost the moment you are absent from work for more than three days. A botched job that is not at all attractive and which only adds to the fact that the deficiencies in the service to the population, as is happening, are greater.»
Gibraltar Field
A situation of ‘tense calm’ of which he is a great connoisseur Paco Mena, representative of the Alternative Anti-Drug Coordinator and one of the most authoritative voices in the province, especially in Campo de Gibraltar.
“Here,” he says, “drugs continue to be unloaded everywhere and drug boats are being seized. Although it is true that Campo de Gibraltar is now quieter, All we have done is move the problem to other places.Specifically, to the area of the mouth of the Guadalquivir and the coasts of Chiclana, Conil, Barbate and also a bit to the Malaga part (Manilva, Casares and even Estepona).
“In the summer,” he laments, “hunger is combined with the desire to eat, since the problem of drug trafficking is compounded by the lack of personnel.” “And, although it is true that drug trafficking investigations are not abandoned and that Customs Surveillance, which has been reinforced with more boats and personnelis doing a great job; there are not enough personnel to meet the security needs, etc., posed by coastal populations that double and triple their population.
“The means are what they are and, therefore, It is necessary to address a progress in updating the catalogs of the commandsboth in Algeciras and Cádiz, and in the National Police stations and reinforce them,” concludes Belizón.