Searches in the Guadeloupe Region: From waste to roads, the shadow of corruption continues to hover over the island

Guadeloupe, a Caribbean territory, land of sunshine, sugar cane... and now financial scandals? Between questionable waste management and the hunt for missing Brussels euros, the archipelago is drowning in scandals that stink.
The latest episode: simultaneous searches of the Guadeloupe regional headquarters and the headquarters of Routes de Guadeloupe as part of an investigation into irregularities in the allocation and management of European funds. The justice system is particularly interested in the Territorial Agency for the Implementation of European Projects (ATMOG). A key structure that appears to have managed the millions of euros from Brussels with particular rigor.

As investigators search the offices for evidence, the name of Sylvie Gustave, known as Duflo, vice-president of the Guadeloupe region, self-proclaimed "European funds specialist" and current president of the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB), still floats in the damp air of suspicion.

Breaking news : According to the 7 a.m. news on Guadeloupe 1ère, a complaint was filed by the OFB last September , adding a whiff of score-settling to the affair. Questioned immediately afterward, Ms. Duflo claimed to know "nothing" about this complaint. Administrative amnesia or a lionfish strategy?

I thought I saw that in the lot there was our friend Sylvie Gustave, known as Duflo... I would be far from surprised, given everything that has been said about her recently.

— Mélou Vidal (@MelouVidal) April 9, 2025

When waste becomes political

Already at the heart of a heated controversy over the management of the OFB as well as over outrageous expense reports , Sylvie Gustave, known as Duflo, also recently stood out in a case of favouritism worth more than 100 million euros in the context of the construction of a waste plant where the controversial elected official allegedly had the ambition to place her friends - despite a cost to the community twice as high.

In this context, the timing of the investigation into European funds, at a time when her name is circulating behind the scenes as an influential figure within ATMOG, raises some doubts. Especially since the searches come at a time when anomalies regarding the "Green Funds" —those subsidies supposed to support biodiversity—are causing a stir in the corridors. A real shame for someone who is supposed to defend nature...

An environmentalist in the trash?

At the head of the OFB, the high authority responsible for preserving nature and ecosystems, Sylvie Gustave, known as Duflo, represents on paper the embodiment of responsible ecology. But for detractors, she primarily embodies a flexible ecology: one that preaches virtue from Paris but modestly turns a blind eye to sometimes dubious local practices.

In short, between European funds disappearing like leatherback turtles on concrete beaches and waste piling up like political pots and pans, criticism of regional management is now taking on the appearance of an indictment.

And if the search affair does not (yet) mention her by name, the overlapping of Ms. Duflo's functions, between regional vice-presidency and presidency of the OFB, makes her a key piece in a puzzle where every euro, every meter of road and every garbage bag seem to hide a small scandal.

According to a close source, these searches would target our dear Sylvie Gustave, known as Duflo...

— Jean-Luc Berville (@jlberville) April 9, 2025

Brussels pays, Guadeloupe flounders

It's crucial to remember that European funds are supposed to be a lever for development in the outermost regions, particularly in terms of infrastructure, employment, ecology, and waste treatment. What should we think when these same funds appear to have been used under questionable conditions, while at the same time, the mountains of waste continue to grow, along with citizens' doubts?

For many, the Sylvie Gustave, known as Duflo, affair symbolizes the failure of good green governance in the overseas territories: between declared ecological ambitions, ignored realities on the ground and squandered public money.