Eastern Caribbean leaders meet in Saint Lucia to tackle organized crime and drug trafficking

Judicial and law enforcement authorities from across the Eastern Caribbean gathered in Saint Lucia last week to strengthen regional cooperation and develop strategies to dismantle organized gangs involved in international drug trafficking.

The high-level seminar — Gangs of the Eastern Caribbean and Their Involvement in International Drug Trafficking — was hosted by the French Embassy to Barbados and the OECS from Nov. 13–14.

More than 120 participants attended, including attorneys general, judges, magistrates, senior police and gendarmerie officers, intelligence officials and representatives from correctional institutions. They came from 11 Caribbean countries and territories, among them Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Barbados, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Maarten and Jamaica, as well as mainland France and Croatia.

Over two days, delegates compared national legal frameworks and enforcement practices while working toward a coordinated regional strategy — one seen as increasingly urgent as transnational criminal networks grow more organized and sophisticated.

In a pre-recorded message, French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called the gathering a key element of France’s plan, Drug Trafficking: Eradicating the Problem at its Roots. He reaffirmed France’s long-standing commitment to helping Caribbean partners counter organized crime and drug trafficking.

“This partnership embodies the shared determination and mutual trust that unite us in this fight,” Barrot said.

The French Embassy said the seminar represents a major step forward in regional security cooperation and reiterated France’s commitment to deepening its partnerships with Eastern Caribbean states.