Colombian High Commissioner for Peace Frank Pearl said in an interview Wednesday that Europeans who consume drugs have blood on their hands, El Espectador reported.
“They probably aren’t aware that when they buy drugs they are financing arms and munitions that cause deaths in Colombia. They are allied to and financing some of the worst criminal organizations through their consumption,” Pearl stated.
“We need the citizens of consumer countries to be aware of what they are doing. It’s one thing to take cocaine thinking that it’s fun, it’s another thing to know that the money earned from it buys a gun that kills a child. Citizens need to wake up to themselves and assume responsibility for their actions,” Pearl continued.
The High Commissioner made these comments during an interview in London, where he is presenting the findings of a congress on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration held in Cartagena last June.
Pearl said that drug trafficking is the root of Colombia’s problems and is threatening the Justice and Peace process. The reparation scheme, which offers guerrillas and paramilitaries reduced sentence in exchange for collaborating with justice, has seen 15,000 FARC guerrillas and 32,000 paramilitaries demobilize according to Pearl.
However Pearl believes that the term ‘paramilitary’ is no longer relevant because the definition of a paramilitary has changed.
According to Pearl, the paramilitary’s previous objective to “finish off the guerrillas” has converted into “criminal groups dedicated to selling drugs”.
