Kokainas

by Magnus Linton

Om kokainets blodiga produktion och pulvrets växande roll som bränsle i krig och politik.

Vid tiotalets ingång genomgår kokainet en bred popularisering i Sverige och Europa som kommer få stora konsekvenser för all framtid. Många här, men framför allt där. Hos andra.

Cocaína - en bok om dom som gör det är inte ett reportage om knark som hot mot svensk ungdom, utan om efterfrågans och antidrogkrigets betydelse för pulvrets blodiga arbetsgolv; Colombia – det trasiga land som producerar 70 procent av allt kokain världen konsumerar.

Magnus Linton gräver upp rötterna till en av världens största industrier och tar läsaren med på en brutal resa genom kokainets galna historia, produktionens våldsamma villkor och dess växande roll som bränsle i geopolitiska krig och religiösa världsbilder.

Cocaína är en uppföljare till Augustnominerade Americanos.

Genres: Nonfiction, Drugs, Crime

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2010

Reviews

[Prakriti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the English translation of the book, but it did not have this pretty cover, so I am sticking to writing here.

I have read quite a few books on Narco-journalism in the last few months, following the Cocaine trail, from the consumer, down the smuggling corridors to Mexico, and down further into South America - to Colombia. Some of them have been exemplary pieces of journalism, I can remember Cocaine Nation: How the White Trade Took Over the World, El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency, and The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail off the top of my head, each an amazing book in it's right.

Having said that, this book here is the best I have read on the subject so far. It is very sensitively written. No sensationalism. And that is a humongous achievement for a topic that garners garish headlines. This is very unlike the rest of the books showcasing the crazy world of Cocaine with relish. Magnus Linton, a Swede, took about 21 years of being in Colombia to come up with this book. Linton's love for Colombia seeps through his words and the stories he tells. There is a certain sorrow about what has happened, this is where the beauty of Colombia, the horror of the years passed by. This here is not a smorgasbord of profit percentages down the supply chain, but truly a book about those who make it. A book about the realities of the country, about the political history, about the reasons why FARC came into existence and why people's loyalties have changed. There is one gratuitous long chapter about Pablo Escobar, because no book about Colombia's past, present and future could truly hope to understand the country without the shadow of Escobar. Even that one chapter is much, much better put than the sorry excuse of a book that is Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw.

I cannot imagine what it took to assemble this information, to piece this together over two decades of research, and to be alive at the end of it. The contents of this book are perhaps as horrific as the How-To behind writing it.

Very highly recommended.

[Tadas Knygų asas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Labai netiketina knyga ,❤️❤️📚

[Skirmantė Rugsėjis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tai dokumentinė knyga apie Kolumbiją ir kokaino gamybos pradžią iki šių dienų. Nors pateikiama labai daug faktų ir skaičių, knyga nėra visiškai sausa ir skaitosi ne taip jau ir sudėtingai.
Buvo labai įdomu skaityti apie šalį, kuri pasaulio rinkai pateikia daugiau nei pusę viso pagaminamo kokaino ir kone 70% jos gyventojų pragyvena iš narkotikų verslo, aišku, jei galima tikėti statistika.
Labai smulkiai ir aiškiai aprašinėjama ne tik paties narkotiko gamyba ir kelionė į JAV ar Europos rinkas, daug dėmesio skirta Amerikos planui "Kolumbija" kai kokos laukai yra purškiami herbicidais. Likau nustebinta fakto, kad po kai kurių naikinimų, gamyba ne sumažėjo, o tik išaugo, tačiau nukentėjo daugybė smulkiųjų ir niekuo dėtų ūkininkų, gamtos draustinių.
Yra nemažai vietų ir apie Pablą Eskobarą bei mafiją, taip pat kalbama apie Kolumbijos ir Meksikos vidinį karą dėl JAV rinkos, keliama mintis, kad kolumbiečiai iš ten pasitraukė savo noru, tačiau būtent jie vis dar valdo Europos rinką ir tai buvo taktinis sprendimas.
Žmogžudysčių skaičiai kraupina, kai viename sakinyje surašoma kiek politikų, prokurorų, žurnalistų ir niekuo dėtų žmonių ten kasmet nužudoma, visai kitomis akimis imi žiūrėti į šalį, kuri žinoma tik iš nuogirdų.
Kokainas - ne vienintelė tema, nemažai rašoma ir apie marihuaną, įdomus faktas, kad Kolumbija kasmet pagamina vis daugiau sintetinių narkotikų, taip pat ten plečiasi ir heroino gamyba (nors Afganistanas vis dar išlieka pagrindiniu tiekėju). Ir visa tai nesustoja, nors ne vienas JAV prezidentas bando užkirsti kelią, o Bolivija, Meksika ir Ekvadoras sparčiai lipa ant kulnų bandydami atsilaužti sau rinkos dalį. Ko gero visą kūrinį geriausiai apibūdina viena iš jo citatų "Kolumbija nėra priklausoma nuo kokaino, tai kokainas priklausomas nuo Kolumbijos".
Tikrai rekomenduoju tiems, kad domisi narkotikų tema ir nevengia dokumentinių knygų.

[Lina Brodovska · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had Hard time reading this book. Its full of statistics, numbers and etc. It was too documentary for me, but I think this book has fans, who are more interested in Colombia, its history and off courde cocaine.

[Mantas Giga · Rating 1 out of 5]

Labai nuobodi ir neidomi.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good friend worked on a documentary about the horrors of the drug trade - how innocents are murdered, how gruesome the murders can be, how the cartels operate at the border, etc. The images always stuck at the back of my mind, so when I came across this book I impulse-bought it.

A genuinely stirring account painting as clear a picture as possible of the many facets of the cocaine economy. The people who grow it, the people who refine it, the people who smuggle it, the people who sell it, and the crime lords who oversee the whole mess. The stories are fascinating. The overall picture is hard to see. A complex reality weaving the politics of a poor nation, the ambitions of a few horrible men, and the genuine good time the drug bestows on the people who love a good party.

What I love is that the people who make it won't touch the stuff because they see what goes into it. The toxicity of the chemicals and the by-products of the process.

It's a sad state of affairs. An entire nation has been kicked in the ass by the market for this one drug that feeds on an individual's desire to feel a little rush, knock some sense into their drunken nights, and in general suck as much fun out of a situation regardless of how unfun that situation might be. It's a portrait reflected in a cracked mirror - all the pieces are hard to fit together, the image isn't quite clear, and it's impossible to put together the real thing using what you see.

I'm glad I read it and recommend it wholeheartedly. Don't think I'll revisit it, so only three stars.

One last note - I read the English version, so I can't speak to the quality of the writing. It's all translated. But the content is solid.

[Alan Marr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as part of my preparation for my visit to Colombia. It is a disturbing, riveting book about the cocaine industry in Colombia. It chronicles the development of the industry from humble beginnings to the billion dollar business and the intermeshed relationships with Government, military and police that led to the so-called war on drugs. It tells the same old story of the little guys on the bottom of the pile getting the rough end of the pineapple while politicians and Generals took the cream.
It also displays clearly the bumbling efforts of the USA to stop the traffic without addressing the real causes at the source.
In the final chapter Linton makes a powerful argument for legalisation of all drugs.

[Sancho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cocaina is a book about this horrible problem affecting Colombia and the world. Linton, after having lived in Colombia for some years, experienced in first person many of the situations he describes, and thus has the moral authority to talk about them. In general, I think he is fair to reality and I like his style. I only dislike some (very few) generalizations, as I see them as harmful and deceiving. But most books/texts/articles about such topics have this risk, so he cannot really be judged for that. Besides, he is not Colombian.

Good book for those that do not know the real story behind the cocaine problem in Colombia and the world, and for those who (literally) cannot see beyond their noses.

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating write up on the history of cocaine, and the relationships between Colombia, the US, Latin America and the drug trade.
I don't pretend to be an expert in this area, so I can't comment on the skew of the piece, but Linton pulls together a large list of references, interviews and vignettes to paint a picture of a country where everyone has a stake in continuing the cocaine industry (even when they purport to be fighting against it).

[Ann Tonks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deeply depressing but absolutely fascinating book about Colombia and the impact of cocaine on the culture, the community, the economy and the country. Even thought the violence levels have dropped in recent years, the production hasn't and the main change seems to be that the drug mafia has integrated themselves into the political and judicial framework. Corruption everywhere.

[Calzean · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, easy to read (but depressing) investigative book on the drug trade. While it focuses on Columbia, there is a good coverage on recent developments in the who's who and who is doing what. At the end it points to the obvious - the war on drugs is lost.

[Amar Pai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative. Depressing.