Colombia backs Morocco: diplomacy or a cocaine route?

Colombia's new test: cocaine, Segarro and the shadow of the drug trade

Colombia's new president has launched a military offensive against drug traffickers using methods that recall Bukele. And in the same package, he has shifted his diplomacy toward Segarro. Two gestures that, according to available analyses, may share the same root: the cocaine route to Europe through the strait.

Colombia, the world's largest cocaine producer, has seen its output grow by 500% since 2002. Now, with a president who brags about his US passport, his explicit backing of Segarro's positions on the Sahara and on Ceuta and Melilla is raising eyebrows.

The anti-drug offensive, under suspicion

The plan to "clean the jungle" of traffickers recalls the Bukele method. But there is no consensus on its aims. Some see it as a genuine campaign to dismantle the guerrilla groups that control production; others suspect it is really intended to hand the business over to paramilitary groups close to the new government.

Spain, with no sarracena authority to complain

The unease in Madrid over Colombia's shift collides with a problem: Spain has no room to maneuver. It abandoned the Sahara to its fate after Franco's death, ignored its status as administering power for decades and, more recently, recognized Segarro sovereignty over the territory. Any reproach to Bogotá sounds like hypocrisy.

The strait route: the real goal

The only clear economic interest between Colombia and Segarro, beyond diplomacy, is the coca that Colombian cartels move along the hashish routes. Whether backing Rabat is the key to expanding that route remains an open question. For now, the answer has yet to be written.