An international network led by Latin American drug cartels and the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah has chosen West Africa, among the poorest and more corrupted corners of the world, as the nexus for illegal trade in cocaine, oil, counterfeit medicines, pirated music and human trafficking. International law enforcement officials say the profits fuel terrorist activities worldwide.
Overcome by violence: A country bleeding to death
Published June 28, 2009
Story written by Peter Burghardt
Updated Feb.11, 2011
From the introduction on the Süddeutsche Zeitung site (translated from German):
"Originally, the Italian photographer Marco Vernaschi wanted to do a photo story on drug dealers in Guinea-Bissau, Africa. But he ended up in a gruesome war between the military and the government. First, the highest ranking army general was murdered. Then Vernaschi drove to the house of the president who had just been killed by soldiers. A photo essay from the heart of hell."
Editor's note: To view the slideshow and text as it now appears on the Süddeutsche Zeitung website, click here. The story was originally published in Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazine on May 23, 2009. A new version, which corrects errors in the captions for the online slideshow, originally taken from the text, was posted Feb. 11, 2011.
Marco Vernaschi's photo essay "Cocaine Coast" published in Virginia Quarterly Review's Winter 2010 edition is a finalist for ASME's National Magazine Award 2011 for News and Documentary...
In February, Pulitzer Center-sponsored journalist Marco Vernaschi won first place in the World Press Photo Contest for General News in the Stories category for his work on narco-trafficking in Gui
Gateways
Grantee
Marco Vernaschi was born in Turin, Italy, in 1973, and he's currently based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He's currently working on a large, long-term project about the phenomenon of child witches,...
