Mexican drug cartels are here
Spira Tlhankane | Wednesday August 27, 2025 16:47
Speaking yesterday during the African Union (AU) conference on the Illicit Synthetic Drug trade, US Ambassador to Botswana Howard Van Vranken disclosed that these cartels are often working with local networks in the targeted African countries. He said these cartels are targeting Africa because the continent is on the rise, with its economy projected to reach $3.6 trillion by 2026. Vranken added that if left unchecked, these cartels will reach deeper. He said criminal groups are opportunistic and that trafficking is never their only business but one of many. He said they must devise strategies that disrupt entire criminal ecosystems.
Vranken said the reality is that criminal organisations adapt faster than ever because they are agile, tech-savvy, and are interconnected across all borders.
“They exploit new technology, shifting geopolitics, and global supply chains. No nation is immune. A central pillar of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy is stopping the production and trafficking of synthetic drugs. Now in the US, this is one amongst the important and urgent missions for our foreign policy. We are reducing the flow of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids into the United States, dismantling these transnational criminal networks and strengthening the capacity of partner neighbours, partner nations to do the same. The reason is painfully clear: synthetic drugs are potent, lethal, and dangerously easy to make,” he revealed.
Vranken pointed out that across Africa and in Botswana, methamphetamines, new synthetic opioids like kush, and netasines are spreading. Vranken indicated that in Botswana, reports show that drug abuse is rising in cities and villages alike. He said children as young as 13 are experimenting with these dangerous substances, specifically CAT. He said even though the US has lost many people to synthetic drugs, the challenge is not uniquely American, and that Botswana is facing the scourge of drug abuse and synthetic drugs. Vranken revealed that since 2013, the United States has partnered with the AU to counter illicit drugs across this continent.
For her part, Dr Angela Me, Chief of Research and Trend Analysis branch at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, revealed that Africa, like other continents, faces a growing threat from synthetic drugs. She said Africa, with its own peculiarity, like all regions, has a challenge of youth drug abuse. Dr Me said this is particularly Africa’s challenge because the latter is a young continent.
“The limited data available suggest that drug trafficking in Africa continues to rise. Drug trafficking can constitute in some parts of Africa one of the most significant risks to peace building, imposed conflict in fragile states, underlining the need for strengthening counter measures,” she further emphasised.
Dr Me indicated that in some regions in Africa, the proceeds of drug trafficking finance insurgent and extremist groups. “Trafficking networks are becoming more global, requiring urgent and coordinated continental and global responses,” she said.
Also speaking during the event, President Duma Boko said they have acknowledged that the drug problem has now become a scourge that is not only growing but spreading at pandemic velocity. He said the scourge of synthetic drugs is a real and present danger.
“It is a danger that looms large over our country, our region, our continent, and the world. It threatens our security, our health, and our prosperity. It represents a threat of another kind. Those involved are organised and if left unchecked become so powerful that they become cartels, and power blocks of deadly force that can overrun a country and penetrate and seize control of its institutions, including political and law enforcement agencies,” he highlighted. The United States has been committed to stopping the campaigns of violence and terror committed by international cartels and transnational organisations. Mexican drug cartels have been known to operate in Africa, particularly in West Africa, to facilitate the movement of cocaine to Europe.