Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau goes from Thursday, August 21 to Saturday, August 23 in Martinica and Guadalupe for a trip under the security signal and the fight against drug trafficking, an important problem in the Caribbean area.
The Les Répudicains party chief (LR) will begin his visit this Thursday afternoon with a working meeting at Fort Saint-Louis, in Fort-de-France, dedicated to illicit traffic in the region, before attending a maritime surveillance operation.
On Friday, he will meet with Serge Letchimy, president of the local authority of Martinica (CTM), with whom he will sign a financing agreement for the installation of two millimeter scanners at the Fort-de-France airport, a long-standing application for local authorities.
These new teams must strengthen drug detection in this airport regularly led by traffickers, especially from the establishment of the “100%control” system for passengers in Felix-Eaboue in Cayenne, in Guyana, which reduced seizures.
A “extraordinary” level of crime
In Guadalupe on Saturday, Bruno Retailleau will meet significantly with Ary Chalus, regional president, and GuyBar, president of the department. It will participate in a 100% control operation at the Guadalupe airport.
This visit occurs while the crime in the Antilles reaches an “extraordinary” level, according to local officials, who have been claiming reinforced media for months and a state response “to the emergency.”
In the two territories, the authorities are alarmed by a massive circulation of weapons against the drug trafficking context. The French Western Indies have become a privileged transit point between South America, the United States and Europe.
The year 2024 had resulted in 33 homicides in Guadalupe and 29 in Martinica, placing these territories in the second and third rows of France in terms of homicides behind Guyana.
According to a report published by the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction (Jirs) of Antilles-Guyana, the Fort-de-France jurisdictions (Martinique), Basse-Terre (Guadeloupe) and Cayenne (Guyana) have already identified 61 homicides on June 26, an average of seven homicides per 100,000 inhabitants per year, against 1.1 in free.
Source: BFM TV
