PUERTO ANTIOQUIA: France’s foreign minister vowed Saturday to “defeat” rapidly spreading drug trafficking in Europe, as he spoke to AFP on a trip to Colombia, a major narcotics producer.
Jean-Noel Barrot is in the South American country for a summit between the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which will take place in the city of Santa Marta on Sunday and Monday.
Speaking in nearby Puerto Antioquia, a port terminal in northwestern Colombia where the powerful Clan del Golfo cartel operates, Barrot said France was “resolved to defeat trafficking of all kinds — not just in drugs — which raises public health (and safety) concerns.”
He said Paris would not sit by and watch “the explosion of drug trafficking in Latin America, in the Caribbean, and also in Europe, where we are now seeing not only drugs flooding in, but also traffickers moving around and setting up laboratories.”
“All of this must stop,” he said, adding that the French government planned to open a regional academy in the Dominican Republic that will train investigators and customs officers to help combat organized crime.
The training program, planned for next year, will take place in cooperation “with Colombia in particular, the (world’s) top cocaine producer,” Barrot said.
The EU-CELAC summit risks being overshadowed by no-shows and disputes, with Colombia accusing the United States of pressuring countries to skip the event.
Ties between Washington and Bogota have soured since US President Donald Trump ordered a military deployment in the Caribbean to combat a surge in drug trafficking that he has blamed partly on his leftist Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro.
Barrot repeated his “concern” about regional tensions, saying the US deployment had “disregarded the rules of international law and the law of the sea.”
French FM vows to ‘defeat’ drug trade on Colombia trip
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French FM vows to ‘defeat’ drug trade on Colombia trip
- Barrot said France was “resolved to defeat trafficking of all kinds, not just in drugs, which raises public health and safety concerns”
Norway launches probe of Middle East diplomat and husband over Epstein links
- Mona Juul resigned from her position as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq
- Juul and her husband Terje Rod-Larsen played key roles in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations which led to the Oslo Accords
OSLO: Norwegian police said Monday they have launched an “aggravated corruption” investigation against a high-profile diplomat, Mona Juul, and her husband Terje Rod-Larsen, over the couple’s links to late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The police economic crime unit Okokrim said in statement that the probe began last week and that an Oslo residence was searched on Monday, as well as a residence belonging to a witness.
“We have launched an investigation to determine whether any criminal offenses have been committed. We are facing a comprehensive and, by all accounts lengthy investigation,” Okokrim chief Pal Lonseth, said.
Juul, 66, and Rod-Larsen, 78, played key roles in the secret Israeli-Palestinian negotiations which led to the Oslo Accords of the early 1990s.
Epstein left $10 million in his will to the couple’s two children, according to Norwegian media.
“Among other things, Okokrim will investigate whether she received benefits in connection to her position,” the statement said.
On Sunday, the foreign ministry announced that Juul had resigned from her position as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq.
“Juul’s contact with the convicted abuser Epstein has shown a serious lapse in judgment,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in connection to the announcement.
She had already been temporarily suspended last week pending an internal investigation by the ministry into her alleged links to Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Norway’s political and royal circles have been thrust into the eye of the Epstein storm, including the CEO of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende.
Former prime minister Thorbjorn Jagland, is also being investigated for “aggravated corruption” over links to Epstein while he was chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee — which awards the Nobel Peace Prize — and as secretary general of the Council of Europe.
Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit has also come under scrutiny for her relationship with Epstein, which on Friday she said she “deeply regretted.”
On Monday, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store voiced support for the establishing of an independent commission set up by Parliament, to fully examine the nature of the ties between these figures and Epstein.
