- Title: Argentina gang crackdown has dried up cocaine exports, security minister says
- Date: 7th February 2025
- Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (JANUARY 30, 2025) (REUTERS) ARGENTINE SECURITY MINISTER PATRICIA BULLRICH DURING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ARGENTINA'S SECURITY MINISTER, PATRICIA BULLRICH, SAYING: "We had a record cocaine seizure, and that has earned us a lot of respect on the continent and also in Europe. We have not had a single shipment from Argentina that has reached Eu
- Embargoed: 21st February 2025 10:58
- Keywords: Argentina Patricia Bullrich cocaine minister security
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, ARGENTINA
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, ARGENTINA
- Country: Argentina
- Topics: South America / Central America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002943706022025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Patricia Bullrich, Argentina's security minister, is on a mission to stamp out drug gangs in the South American nation that have driven rising violence and led to a spike in cocaine shipments to Europe. She says she is succeeding.
Argentina has grown in importance as a transit hub for cocaine as production from Peru and Bolivia has flowed down key waterways and out through river ports such as that of Rosario, Lionel Messi's hometown. Gang-related murders increased in tandem.
Bullrich, in a rare interview with international media, told Reuters the year-old government of libertarian President Javier Milei was breaking up the gangs and blocking shipments from making their way to end markets, including to Europe, where the cocaine market has expanded in recent years.
The security ministry confirmed that cocaine was not found in any shipments that crossed the South Atlantic from Argentina to a major European port in 2024. Reuters was unable to independently verify that.
Once a rival to Milei as the presidential candidate for the main conservative bloc, Bullrich is now leading the crackdown on crime, tightening borders with Brazil and Bolivia, privatizing some prisons and using artificial intelligence to track gangs.
In Rosario, according to local government figures, murders dropped to 90 last year - the lowest in at least the last decade and down from nearly 300 in 2022 and 261 in 2023, the year before Milei and Bullrich took office.
"We decided to hit hard against the gangs," Bullrich said, adding that cooperation between the national and regional governments in Rosario had been a key factor, as well as the courts taking a tougher line. The government has also targeted drug kingpins already behind bars.
Bullrich has sent a bill to congress to establish a new anti-mafia law, akin to U.S. RICO legislation, to take down criminal networks, and said she has also learned from security forces in Britain and Italy.
Bullrich said the border with Bolivia was being strengthened, including by building a short stretch of wall in northern Salta province. Argentina is also doing more monitoring of entry points with Brazil.
Authorities in Bolivia and Brazil did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Brazil's Minister of Justice, Ricardo Lewandowski, last week welcomed the idea of strengthening border security in a response to the measures.
Bullrich, a political veteran who has brought Milei key center-ground support, said she had been won over to the libertarian's broader economic and social reforms beyond his security focus, which have divided Argentines but helped stabilize the country.
(Production: Horacio Soria, Juan Bustamante, Liamar Ramos) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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