The White Lobster: Found Cocaine and the Economy of Bluefields, Nicaragua
This morning I got sucked into a fascinating story about Bluefields, Nicaragua. Due to its location (halfway between Columbia and the US), a lot of drug smugglers pass by. Oftentimes, when the smugglers are fleeing authorities… they end up throwing the drugs overboard, effectively getting rid of the evidence.
Those bales of cocaine float, and the currents bring them west right into the chain of islands, beaches and cays which make up the huge lagoons that surround Bluefields on Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast…
Hujo Sugo, a historian of Bluefields, says the floating coke has created a new local hobby.
“People here now go beachcombing for miles, they walk until they find packets. Even the lobster fisherman now go out with the pretence of fishing but really they are looking for la langosta blanca – the white lobster.”
The article is pretty engaging, although it takes this really weird turn on page 4 and just… ends, abruptly. Other than that though, a good read.
Also check out NPR’s story and a set of Flickr images by PRI’s The World. [via]
Jake warned me about the Bluefields. We made sure to not stop in this area of Nicaragua!
Jessy (February 20, 2008 at 6:13 pm)Avoision — can you please tell me where you found the picture you display above for the white lobster story ???was it printed with the Nz herald story ????
susan schulman (September 3, 2008 at 2:39 pm)Susan: I snagged it from the flickr set for PRI’s The World.
avoision (September 3, 2008 at 3:32 pm)I THINK THIS STORY IS PROBABLY NOT TRUE, MOSTLY EXAGERRATED AT BEST, I READ THE SAME ARTICLE AND ALTHOUGH IT SOUNDS GOOD I AM NOT CATCHING A PLANE YET…
COOPER (September 28, 2008 at 9:34 pm)Bluefields Safe I live there, and most of the people are honest workers
Hobie (February 10, 2009 at 2:16 am)