Marco Vernaschi and Guinea Bissau

Marco Vernaschi, whom I raved about here earlier for his photo essays on the drug war in Guinea-Bissau, is back with another collection on the dangers of child birth there. High maternal mortality rates, counterfeit medications and poor sanitary conditions plague the crumbling West African nation.

And for a fascinating look inside Guinea Bissau, read his diary from his travels there.

Photo via RapporteursPhoto

Africa’s First Narco State

As illustrated by this stunningly brutal photo essay, shit is going down in Guinea-Bissau with that country’s catastrophic drug business. And as can be further seen in these uncensored, even more provocative photos by the same photographer, that shit ain’t pretty.

A double assassination of the country’s president and army chief last spring and a spiraling out-of-control cocaine trade has turned Guinea-Bissau — one of the poorest countries in the world — into Africa’s first narco state. It’s the middle stop in the long journey of moving drugs across the globe since it has no real penitentiary system and open ports. And Hezbollah, al Qaida, European cocaine consumers and Latin American cartels are all clamoring to get in. The crack addiction rate is on the rise, and so is extreme violence, abductions and prostitution. The question now is: is there any hope left for this drug-addled nation?

Photo by Marco Vernaschi

The Drug War Extends to West Africa

Joao Bernardo Vieira, president of Guinea-Bissau and pictured above, was assassinated Monday by his own soldiers after military chief Tagme Na Wai was killed the day before.

The assassination appears to be a clear revenge attack, as Vieira’s personal security force is believed to be responsible for Wai’s murder.

Naturally, the country has been thrown into chaos. While the military has sworn in an interim president, the murders of both the present and chief of armed forces is a bewildering event you see in movies — not something you’d expect to happen in real life.

A primary root of all this? The Latin American drug trade. The airstrips and ports of the former Portuguese colony have been effectively taken over by Latin drug gangs to smuggle cocaine from the Americas to Europe. Political instability, corruption and violence have only grown as Guinea-Bissau’s leaders have been swayed and controlled by cartel money, weapons and toys.

Hmm, sounds familiar.

Photo via The Daily Telegraph