Plagued by Cocaine Trafficking

Crack was an unknown drug in Bissau until 2007, when drug traffickers started their business in Guinea-Bissau.

The drug situation in Bissau is particularly sad. There is no prevention, no rehabilitation.

Crack fed prostitution is just one of the consequence of drug trafficking in Bissau, and it's not for locals.

The drug issue is so new that there is no data available, making it impossible to say how many people are lost in crack addiction. Worse, there is no consciousness among the people about the long-term effects of this plague.

The locals can't afford to pay a prostitute. And, for the most part, sex among the local community isn’t something you need to buy since, for cultural reasons, women cannot refuse a man.

Life inside Bissau's makeshift prison.

All the prostitute's clients are foreigners. Sometimes sailors, but mostly people who work for NGOs, the UN or Embassy employees. None of the prostitutes that I met use condoms.

The lack of a penitentiary system is one of the reasons why drug trafficking proliferates in Guinea Bissau.

Prisoners are free to leave from 2-6 pm, but they usually return since they have at least a free daily meal.

Drug trafficking has destroyed the precarious political stability of Guinea Bissau and destroyed the lives of thousands of people. They are paying the price for Europe’s voracious appetite for cocaine.

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