The journalist Nacho Carretero caused a sensation in Spain in 2015 with his book "farina"about the power of drug traffickers in the 1990s in Galicia, a phenomenon that according to him is still in force.
"Many people in Spain and Europe believe that drug trafficking is a thing of the past, but the reality is that today more cocaine enters than ever. What happens is that they no longer live in those castles, they live in a much more discreet way"Carretero explained in an interview with AFP in Paris.
The Spanish journalist and writer presented this week in Paris the French translation of "farina"a play that was temporarily sequestered by court decision, which was adapted by the Antena3 network into a series with a large audience, and which was even converted into a play that is still on tour in Spain.
The 41-year-old journalist from media such as the newspaper El País is still attached to his native region, which has a peculiar relationship with smuggling.
"Galicia is a unique area. Post-civil war Galicia was a very poor region that had a border with Portugal where there was wealth, that’s why there was a lot of smuggling. It is also the region of Spain with the most kilometers of coastline and always has a deep connection with the sea."Add.
At its most powerful moment, in the mid-1990s, 80% of the cocaine consumed in Europe entered through Galician ports, he recalls.
Galicia did not become a new Sicily, under the control of the local mafia, because there was a common reaction from Galician mothers, "who saw how their children died"and by the State, "who reacted"he assures.
"The amount of drugs moving in Galicia right now is brutal. They do it in an almost invisible way, ”he explained to AFP.
The book was translated into English, Polish or Bulgarian, among other languages. And it owes much of its success to the kidnapping ordered by a judge, due to a lawsuit from a Galician mayor, whom Carretero linked to drug trafficking.
The lawsuit was finally dismissed by the judge, and the decision was ratified last year by a higher court.
During all these years, says Carretero, the problem of the entry of drugs has not only not been eradicated, but has also spread throughout Spain.
"Now there is the problem of organized crime on the Costa del Sol [en Andalucía]. There are all the mafias in Europe and Spain does not have sufficient means to combat it”, he adds.