DRUG TRADE INQUIRY
Once again, two of the Caribbean Community nation of Suriname’s most prominent politicians are being fingered in an investigation for allegedly being enablers of an international drug trade spanning several South American and European countries.
Former coup maker and two-time elected President Desi Bouterse and current Vice President and former guerilla leader Ronnie Brunswijk have been named as major players by Insight magazine for being key participants in a cocaine smuggling ring that allegedly funnels drugs from Colombia to Europe through Suriname because these two influential politicians allegedly ensure safe passage of cargoes to Europe. Both men have persistently denied any involvement in the drug trade with Vice President Brunswijk telling local media this week that his name is unnecessarily being smeared.
“I have nothing to do with drugs,” Brunswijk, 62, told BN-Prime alert media outlet. “Only untruths are being told. What they are trying to do is discredit the position of the vice president. I want to see if people in another country would also write something like that about a vice president without there being hard evidence. Let them come up with evidence! I cannot imagine. Who are those researchers? Why don’t they inform the government of what they know? Let them come to Suriname with proof that this Brunswijk once had a connection with a drug lord. Let them come and prove it. I challenge them to come and do that,” said Brunswijk.
The latest allegations against Bouterse, Suriname’s de facto opposition leader, and Brunswijk, the Maroon party leader who has vowed to become president in general elections in 2025, come as local lawmakers try to push a motion through parliament banning any politician with previous convictions for being eligible to be elected as head of state or as a legislator. Brunswijk’s ABOP-PL grouping is the one keeping the multiparty coalition of President Chan Santokhi in power. If they leave the coalition anytime before May of 2025, the government will surely collapse as it will fall short of the 26 seats required for a majority in the 51-seat parliament.
Critics say that many are unsure whether the latest allegations will dent their chances of success in 2025 as the coalition remains very unpopular thanks to rising food prices, a slew of incompetent ministers, simmering discontent over public sector wages and a plethora of other woes that could lead to a change of government next electoral time around.
Both men have been convicted by The Dutch and France in the past and in absentia for alleged drug trafficking so the attempt to block them from running is clearly aimed at keeping them out of contention in 2025.
Insight says that it has seen stolen emails from the attorney general’s office in Colombia that appear to show that the two had allegedly acted as brokers and protectors of the trade between Colombia via Suriname to Europe. The publication says that an email dated March 6, 2022 showed that the local prosecutor’s office had complained that the former president might have been facilitating shipments from Colombia via Suriname to the Caribbean, Africa and Europe. “I respectfully request the granting of a preliminary ruling to verify the above information and to carry out the legal activities that may arise to clarify the people associated with these events,” the investigator asked even as Bouterse’s son, Dino was convicted and jailed in 2015 in the US for trafficking.
As for Brunswijk, probes appear and allege to show that he had been in contact with “two bad guys” as local investigators were working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Bouterse has not reacted as yet to the latest allegations even as his party remains on course to do well in 2025.
