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The drug phenomenon in southern Spain, which began as a problem centred on hashish trafficking and was limited to a specific part of Cadiz province, has now spread along the entire coastline of Andalucía, further aggravated by the introduction of cocaine. Junta president, Juanma Moreno, has issued a warning to the Spanish government, urging it to "get its act together" on this issue, which he considers to be extremely serious.
Moreno took advantage of his trip to Madrid on Monday while presenting Andalucía's strategy for attracting foreign investment, which coincided with a visit by a European parliamentary committee evaluating the working conditions of the security forces fighting drug trafficking, in order to issue a stern warning to Pedro Sánchez's government. The Junta de Andalucía, he stated, is going to get serious and will begin to ask for accountability in this matter "by any means."
Furthermore, Moreno made it clear that drug trafficking is bedding down in southern Spain, that it has "greater capabilities, more resources and is increasingly buying off more people", while the Guardia Civil and the National Police have fewer resources to combat it. "It is David versus Goliath and it is humiliating the rule of law", he said.
Moreno pointed out that, with Andalucía being the Spanish region that borders Africa, this was where hashish began to enter, but now it has become the route for bringing in cocaine too, a substance that he believes "always brings blood with it."
"What I am asking [central] government, once and for all, is to take drug trafficking very seriously and to provide all the means at its disposal." He continued by pointing out that, just as in the past there were groups to fight terrorism in the north of Spain, especially in the Basque Country and Navarre, "now we need to concentrate all those technical and human resources to fight drug trafficking."
He stressed that it cannot be tolerated that "speedboats can swan up the Guadalquivir river like they were completely at home" or that the petrol drums for refuelling the 'narco-boats' can "leave the ports without a care in the world", or that "every day we see these drug boats speeding along from Cabo de Gata in Almeria to Huelva."
"It is an invasion," said the Junta president, adding that it is shameful that a country like Spain does not have the capacity to fight against a growing, illegal phenomenon like this. "We can stop it now, but in a few years' time we are not going to be able to stop them", he said. He predicted that the traffickers are going to start threatening those in authority, "as they are already doing with judges, police and the Guardia Civil, or buying off Guardia Civil officers, judges or politicians."
For Moreno, this is "a bad apple that has to be removed from the outset" and he has commented that he does not understand "the lack of interest, the lack of determination and the lack of resources on the part of the Spanish government."
Turning to the spokesperson for PSOE in Andalucía, Francisco Cuenca, he accused the PP (Moreno's party) and Vox of using the visit to the Campo de Gibraltar area by the delegation from the European Parliament's petitions committee (PETI) to "attack the Spanish government and poison minds", when we should be "supporting the professionals that make up our police and security forces."
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