Cocaine in Miskitu Villages

Abstract

During the 1990s, Miskitu people in the coastal villages north of Puerto Cabezas began finding cocaine washed up on the beach and on the Miskitu Keys just off the coast. Drug runners carrying the cocaine north apparently dump it overboard when pursued by authorities. Cocaine wealth has been used differently in two local communities. In Sandy Bay, cocaine money has been used to build new houses, schools, and churches, in a project of self-directed development. As a result, Sandy Bay appears prosperous. In Awastara, on the other hand, there is tittle evidence of new wealth from cocaine. Unfortunately, in all the coastal communities, cocaine finds have also led to deaths from overdoses, cocaine addiction among young men, and increased theft and violence. (Cocaine, drug trade, Miskitu Indians, economic development, violence) ********** A Washington Times story from June 11, 2002 (Sullivan 2002), deals with the cocaine trade in Sandy Bay, 40 miles north of Puerto Cabezas, on Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast (see Map). (2) Cocaine has also affected life in Awastara, fifteen miles south of Sandy Bay, where I conducted two separate periods of fieldwork (Dennis 1981, 1988). (3) However, the drug trade seems to have affected the two communities differently. newspaper article describes the Sandy Bay council of elders commiserating over the social problems cocaine has caused in their community. Six young men have died, robberies plague the community, even the Moravian Church is said to be involved. One of the Sandy Bay elders tells the foreign journalists: Yes, the tribe is involved in the drug trade. And now they need help. Several years ago, sacks of Columbian cocaine arrived accidentally, floating in on the tides, in what the locals called a 'gift of God.' It has since turned into the devil's own trap, killing young Miskito Indian men and damaging the Miskito culture perhaps beyond repair (Sullivan 2002:A 13). At the same time, however, the rather sensationalistic article describes the freshly painted new houses in Sandy Bay, suggesting new levels of prosperity. Evidently there are internal contradictions involved in the current drug trade. On the one hand, cocaine creates serious social problems; on the other hand, it brings riches. In the absence of other economic opportunities, is the cocaine trade a form of economic development? After all, other kinds of economic development also have negative consequences. How does cocaine fit into the history of drug use on the Coast? And, how shall the social problems involved in cocaine use be evaluated without lapsing into pious moral judgments? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ALCOHOL AND COCAINE Miskitu ethnohistory reports the use of mind-altering substances from the early contact period. A native beer called mishla was brewed from fermented cassava and other fruits and vegetables. These homemade beers were drunk in great quantities at sikru, feasts for the dead, and on other ceremonial occasions. Distilled liquor, when it became available through trade, was apparently treated in the same fashion. attractions of alcohol were noted by Bell (1989:96), a perceptive ninteenth-century observer of Miskitu life: The vice of drunkenness is inherent in all Indians, and when they can get intoxicating drink they have neither the power nor the desire to abstain. Fortunately for them, they seldom have the means to buy spirits, and the intoxicating drinks made by themselves consume too much of their provisions to be indulged in frequently. In Awastara, drinking is still a seemingly irresistible attraction for adult men, in some circumstances and at particular points in life. Drinking behavior is also strongly gendered: men drink, but women are roundly criticized if they imbibe at all. Drinking behavior is also related to the life cycle: young men often go through periods of binge drinking before they settle down as responsible heads of families later in life. …