Snow on the Atlantic: How Cocaine Came to Europe

Smuggling has been a way of life in Galicia for millennia. The Romans considered its windswept coast the edge of the world. To the Greeks it was from where Charon ferried souls to the Underworld. Since the Middle Ages, its shoreline has scuppered thousands of pirate ships. But the history of Cape Finisterre is no fiction and by the late twentieth century a new and exotic cargo flooded the cape’s ports and fishing villages. In Snow on the Atlantic, the book the Spanish national court tried to ban, intrepid investigative journalist Nacho Carretero tells the incredible story of how a sleepy, unassuming corner of Spain became the cocaine gateway into Europe, exposing a new generation of criminals, cartels and corrupt officials, more efficient and ruthless than any who came before.

Table of Contents:
By Land, Sea and Ría The Sea: Costa da Morte Legends The Land: A Raia Seca, Blackmarket Beginnings The River: A Raia Mollada, The Embryo Smoke Marlboro Celta “Contrabandists are the Most Honourable People Around” Batea Winstons Peseta Connection “A Bootlegger, Like My Papa” The Smoke Lords When the President of the Galician Regional Council Met the Capos The Great Leap We Had No Idea The Pioneers Galician Mafia The Colombian Friend Arousa: Narcoland The Capos “Sito Miñanco, Political Prisoner.” Laureano Oubiña in Clogs The Charlíns, a Clan “A La Siciliana” Marcial Dorado, On His Yacht with the President White Tide Let Us Live Rise Up Operation Nécora The Puzzle The Big Roundup The Struggle Continues After Nécora The Others The Fall of the Oubiña Empire Imitating the Mafia Narcopolitics Narco Law, Narco Justice Narco Violence All Out 2001–03: Trafficking Frenzy Taín’s Final Blow: The Fall of Miñanco, Charlín and Dorado Changing of the Guard Narco Carriers Ltd. The Speedboat Skippers Operation Tabaiba The Organizations Tracks in the Snow The Eternal Return Hostile Territory The Lords of the Rías Today The Plague

About the Author :
Nacho Carretero is an investigative journalist with the Spanish newspaper El País. His reporting has taken him to countries ranging from the Phillipines to Rwanda, and he has previously written for El Español, El Mundo and many other publications. The original Spanish edition of Snow on the Atlantic has become a bestseller in Spain, and is being adapted as a TV series by Antena 3. Thomas Bunstead is a writer and translator based in East Sussex, England. He has translated some of the leading Spanish-language writers working today, including Agustín Fernández Mallo, Enrique Vila-Matas and Juan Villoro, and his own writing has appeared in publications such as >kill author, Paris Review Daily, and The TLS. He is an editor at the literary translation journal In Other Words. @thom_bunn Nacho Carretero is an investigative journalist with the Spanish newspaper El País. His reporting has taken him to countries ranging from the Phillipines to Rwanda, and he has previously written for El Español, El Mundo and many other publications. The original Spanish edition of Snow on the Atlantic has become a bestseller in Spain, and is being adapted as a TV series by Antena 3. Thomas Bunstead is a writer and translator based in East Sussex, England. He has translated some of the leading Spanish-language writers working today, including Agustín Fernández Mallo, Enrique Vila-Matas and Juan Villoro, and his own writing has appeared in publications such as >kill author, Paris Review Daily, and The TLS. He is an editor at the literary translation journal In Other Words. @thom_bunn

Review :
There are some books that can never be silenced. Just as the coast of Galicia has become a gate-way for one of the most potent substances to flood Europe, this excellent book becomes an entry point into understanding a crucial aspect of the history of our continent – an aspect historians so far have overlooked. A Spanish story nobody ever told. A unique story, written with a novel's prose, but beware: this is all true. Adds a dramatic new chapter to the saga of Colombia’s infamous drug lords – revealing their corrupting influence far beyond the capitals of Cali and Medellin. Intrepid investigative journalist Nacho Carretero has delivered history written as an action thriller and filled it with intriguing characters.