Snow on the Atlantic: How Cocaine Came to Europe

The Romans considered Cape Finisterre in coastal Galicia the end of the world. To the Greeks it was the point from which Charon the ferryman set off across the Styx. Since the Middle Ages, more than a thousand ships have sunk along its shoreline, and the lethal activities of pirate gangs gave it the moniker the Coast of Death. Smuggling has been a way of life there for centuries. By the late twentieth century, as Spain battled with the legacy of fascist dictatorship, a very different kind of cargo was arriving from South America through the cape’s ports and fishing villages.
Snow on the Atlantic tells the incredible story of how this sleepy, windswept corner of Spain became the cocaine gateway to Europe. Immersing himself in the life and history of the region, Nacho Carretero reveals an astonishing past and exposes how a new generation of smugglers have taken over, more efficient and ruthless than any of those who came before. He gained unprecedented access to the drug runners, addicts, and kingpins who control the trade. He learns first-hand how local police, international prosecutors, and American DEA agents are fighting to stop the flow of drugs. And he talks to the citizens and victims’ relatives caught in the middle. Carretero’s exposé shows how the cocaine trade can completely infect and transform an entire town—and reminds us that few places are safe from the power of the world’s drug trade.