Colombian drug merchants have taken advantage of Guinea-Bissau's poverty, political instability, and inadequate law enforcement to make the tiny West African nation into the world's first narco state. Guineau-Bissau has become a key trans-shipment point for cocaine moving from Colombia to Europe.
Under pressure from increasingly effective drug enforcement in the Caribbean, traffickers sought an easier route to Europe. For the past three years, Guinea-Bissau has been the transit spot of choice.
Down a street of elaborate colonial-style buildings is Ana's restaurant. Beneath red-tiled roofs, giant candles flicker in the gentle, humid evening breeze - it could be mistaken for an exotic tourist destination. But 'the only visitors we get are the Colombians', sighs Ana, 'this country is being destroyed by drugs. They're everywhere. A few weeks ago, the man who used to be my gardener knocked at the door and offered to sell me 7kg of cocaine.'
. . .
By day, Guinea-Bissau looks like the impoverished country it is. Most people cannot afford a bus fare, never mind a four-wheel drive. There is no mains electricity. Water supplies are restricted to the wealthy few, and landmark buildings such as the presidential palace remain wrecked nine years after the end of the war. But this wreck of a country is what the UN - which declared war last week on celebrity cocaine culture - calls the continent's 'first narco-state'. West Africa has become the hub of a flow of cocaine from South America into Europe, now that other routes have become tough for the traffickers.
That's the supply side of the cocaine equation but, of course, without demand there would be no supply. According to a UN report issued earlier this week, the demand side is fuelled largely by British celebrity users who have glamourised and popularised drug abuse. It is estimated that cocaine use among Britons aged 16 through 24 has more than doubled since the year 2000. Prices have fallen about in half over the same time period.
A leader (editorial) in today's Observer argues that soaring cocaine use contributes to political instability in Africa and Latin America.
The trail of misery, destruction, violence and death it leaves in its wake as it departs South America is undeniable. Those who choose to use cocaine are directly responsible. If the demand dries up, then the misery stops. Those who decide to use it are making an unconscionable decision.
. . .
Only last week, the world watched a dramatic military standoff unfold after Colombian troops crossed into Ecuador to kill a leader of the Farc terrorist group, which is financed by the money it makes from the coca leaf. The tense confrontation also sucked in Venezuela and threatens to have geopolitical consequences in the months ahead.
But it is not just the poor of South America whose lives are blighted. As the UN's drugs tsar describes in The Observer today, cocaine has recently begun to devastate much of Africa's Gold Coast, a staging post in the international trade.
The leader writer points out that many cocaine consumers congratulate themselves for their "ethical lifestyles".
The column by Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and director-general of the United Nations Office in Vienna, is posted here.
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