Europe’s rising demand for cocaine and other illegal drugs has opened up new territories on Africa’s west coast to Latin American drugs cartels, which see higher margins in Europe and an easier time with the law in West African countries. The US Drugs Enforcement Agency (DEA) reports that it is seeing the same gangs it fights in Mexico and Colombia appearing in countries like Guinea-Bissau, dubbed Africa’s first “narco-state.” Rising demand from Europe and a strong Euro have fueled the supply, according to a report from  George Mason University in Virginia, USA. West African countries are a trans-shipment area of choice to Europe because of its proximity and because poverty, years of war, and endemic corruption have weakened institutions that could combat drugs crime. BBC, CNN

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