Fighting on a common front
Editorial
Guyana Chronicle
May 8, 2004
THE Guyana Government has confirmed that it has received a formal request from authorities in the United States for a number of Guyanese suspected to be involved in major drug trafficking and money laundering operations to be extradited and put before the courts in the U.S.
According to Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, Guyana has responded to this request by the U.S. authorities in a “principled” manner and has given the assurance that it will support and even expedite such an extradition process once the necessary procedures are followed and the facts presented.
“There is a legal procedure that needs to be followed and the government has clearly indicated its support to having those procedures given effect in implementing the wishes or requests of the American authorities to extradite these Guyanese,” he told reporters Thursday.
Drug rings have cast their rabid tentacles in Guyana and other countries in the region and the relentless battle to root them out has to be a concerted cooperative effort.
The rings are vast and tenacious and drug barons have more resources to push their deadly trade than many governments in Third World countries.
With the increasing anti-drug fight in Colombia and other parts of the region, the rings have turned to other countries as other transshipment points for consignments to North America, Europe and other parts of the world.
There are lucrative drug markets in those countries and the rings are always looking for easier conduits for their shipments.
Guyana has clearly been identified as a transshipment point for drugs to other countries and the U.S. authorities want to plug the holes wherever they can.
While Guyana cannot be considered a major market for drug users, it has not escaped the ravages of the scourge and many families have been devastated by the travails wreaked on the young lured and hooked into using cocaine and other substances.
Coping with drug addicts and attendant difficulties is adding more burdens on a struggling developing country and Guyana, like other states caught up in the web, has to be in the forefront of international efforts to root out drug networks.
It is not an easy task and Guyana has to work with all those involved in the fight against the drug rings.
The Americans and other developed countries are keen on stopping the flow of drugs to their vast markets and the trade would suffer if the demand is not there or is considerably reduced.
Several Guyanese have been busted in the U.S. recently on drugs and money laundering offences and officials say they are closing in on rings that have established networks here and in the U.S.
It is in Guyana’s interest to help the U.S. authorities because this would make life more difficult for drug rings operating here.
It is a battle that has to be fought on a common front and Guyana should spare no effort to help all those determined to win the fight.
This country has suffered too much already from the ravages of the drug trade to do anything less.