Alyaksandr Lukashenka shared his views on drug trafficking in an interview with American journalist Greta Van Susteren. In Lukashenka’s opinion, drug trafficking will always exist.
Below is a transcript of the interview segment on this topic released by his press service.
Greta Van Susteren: What should the United States do about the flow of drugs coming from Venezuela to the US?
Alyaksandr Lukashenka: And are you sure that there is such a flow of drugs that people in the United States talk about so much today?
GVS: Fentanyl comes from Mexico, but other drugs are produced in Colombia and other Latin American countries. They still go through Venezuela.
AL: Greta, yesterday we also discussed this issue with your delegates. Drugs, like many other things — human trafficking, prostitution, weapons — are realities of our time. This must be fought. But you cannot defeat drugs with missiles. This is a war, this is a struggle. You have correctly started this fight against migration and against drugs. Trump did well to raise this issue. We will fight this, and after us — we will leave — Trump, me, your John — we will go to heaven, and our children will fight, fight against this disaster. This is a new phenomenon of a new era. You cannot defeat it with missiles. You need to negotiate, you need to determine joint measures to fight it.
GVS: What would you do? How would you fight it if missiles do not help?
AL: We are fighting it. Look, I wanted to draw a parallel with Belarus. And yesterday I gave this example to the Americans during the talks. What is happening with us? From the east, from the Asian East, through Russia, through Belarus, drugs go to enlightened Europe, to the so-called paradise garden. Do they go? They do. Why do they go there? Because they are used there more than anywhere else. More than with us, more than in Russia, and so on. There is high demand, so drugs go there. We have set up a tough barrier at the border. I can argue with you about who fights drug addiction more harshly than Belarus. We have an iron fight, starting from within. If you distribute drugs here, you may never leave prison. We conduct this uncompromising fight. But nevertheless… What did the Europeans do? They simply closed the border. They imposed sanctions against us. Tell me, dear Greta, if someone put a noose around your neck and hanged you, would you defend those who decided to execute you? Should I defend Europe in this situation? Why? They are strangling me, and I should protect them from drugs? Exactly the same applies to you. You should not strangle Venezuela. You should find a compromise. We seriously fought drugs together with the Europeans — Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Ukrainians. We detained them here, we burned them by the ton. Now there is no such tension. And I will not protect them. What is happening instead? They bring synthetic drugs to us from there. Do you understand the difference between natural and synthetic drugs? This is a terrible phenomenon. And we detain them by the ton. Yesterday I put these facts on the table for your Americans — we detain tons of synthetic drugs from Europe. By doing this, I show that this phenomenon is not Venezuelan, not Afghan. It is a planetary phenomenon that we must fight together. Not with missiles. We need to look for new methods, we need to think, not fight. And, Greta, I do not believe, I do not believe that such a volume of drugs that goes to the United States comes from Venezuela. I do not believe what Trump says on this issue.
GVS: Do you think President Maduro personally has an interest in or is involved in drug trafficking?
AL: Do you have such facts? I do not either. I do not think this is the case. Maduro is not a drug addict — that I know for sure.
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Greta Van Susteren, the wife of US President’s special envoy John Coale, was in Minsk from Thursday to Saturday as part of the American delegation and interviewed Lukashenka.