Alberto García Reyes: Guadalquivir’s drug traffickers

Wetlands are historically mysterious areas. There, Guadalquivir traces hidden nooks and crannies, unknown hideouts, inhospitable islands and landscapes of sour beauty. A century ago, the Civil Guard established a black market surveillance headquarters in the town of Colinas, now a rice paradise. … Because this little gazebo in La Puebla del Rio had a view of the Atlantic Ocean. But the hieroglyphs marking the trail of fresh water to Sanlúcar have turned into a labyrinth of cocaine. Gone are the days when the biggest illegal activity on the river was elver boats. The boat supported an effort to catch young elvers for sale at area restaurants. Predatory poaching has been a constant activity in the death rattle of Guadalquivir, providing flavor to the tables of many families. And the Civil Guard always slept with one eye open in this half-unspoiled and half-enchanted area. However, this survival crime is being destroyed by a drug trafficking organization. They use their fishing boats as fishing grounds, take boats through the shallowest parts of the river to reach the Golden Tower itself, and build nurseries in agricultural warehouses along the entire riverbed, protecting the bales that will be distributed throughout Europe. The river that once held all of America’s gold is today the channel into which all its miseries flow.

The deployment of police to Isla Mayor was a decisive turning point for the region after several workers were shot dead after accidentally passing by a convoy transporting coca. The vast rice fields, a carpet of water stretching from Coria to Bonanza on one bank and from Los Palacios to Trebujena on the other, are now small business in Mafia-controlled territory. Security forces have improved their resources with drones that enable aerial surveillance of fugitives, modern boats that can access previously impenetrable meanderings, and specialized agencies that track drug trails with absolute selflessness. But cocaine plays in a different league, far more popular than hashish. The funds generated by this drug allow the organization to implement cutting-edge technology and pay out millions of dollars to every member of the chain. And this means that the violence used will also increase. Drug traffickers have weapons of war. They shoot without hesitation. they are aiming for that. That’s why it’s so despicable to abandon investigators who have to risk their lives to catch criminals, only to end up with very cheap laws. And this is very serious. Unless a comprehensive and ruthless plan against drug trafficking is established, involving the legislature, police and prisons, with special attention to Andalusia, there will be more blood than water in the mysterious Guadalquivir swamp. Those who warn are not traitors.

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