The president of the Banana Association of Colombia, Juan Camilo Restrepo Gomez, lamented and expressed his rejection against the drug traffickers continued use of banana containers to send cocaine to Europe, as demonstrated by the nine-ton stash discovered in a seaport in Spain.
After having been informed about the results of the operation where authorities seized drug that was smuggled between bananas to Europe, the trade union leader said that the banana businessmen were victims of these drug traffickers' illicit activities, and that the banana producers' work couldn't be tarnished by the illegal actions of these drug gangs.
"We carry out a legal activity, an activity that has made progress in the region in years. When this scourge occurs, we, the victims of all the tragedies that this damn drug trafficking activity has brought, need to disseminate all the positive news in our region, and thank the public force for all their work and accompaniment," he said.
However, Restrepo Gomez said, there should be an increase in the number of Public Force members that control the containers that depart from the port of Uraba to close the way to the drug traffickers.
"We ratify that we are victims of a scourge that hurts Colombia and its population and, in this case, the banana industry. A container of bananas loaded with these drugs stigmatizes a sector, and we are victims of this. However, we believe that the best thing we can do is to continue working so that this bad news does not tarnish our sector," stated the president of Augura.
"Augura works hand in hand with the institutional structures; the bigger the presence of legal actors, the more we'll avoid this kind of negative news. For the moment, Augura wants to make it clear that it complies with all the procedures that the banana sector requires to make foreign trade operations," said trade union leader Juan Camilo Restrepo.
Source: caracol.com.co