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I'm on a journey around the edge of the Caribbean Sea, | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
with thousands of beautiful islands, | 0:00:05 | 0:00:09 | |
and an incredible mainland coast, | 0:00:09 | 0:00:11 | |
home to millions of extraordinary people. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:15 | |
This is a vast area spanning a million square miles, | 0:00:15 | 0:00:19 | |
with a rich and brutal history, | 0:00:19 | 0:00:22 | |
and some of the most dangerous places on the planet. | 0:00:22 | 0:00:25 | |
GUNFIRE | 0:00:25 | 0:00:27 | |
It's one of the most vibrant and exciting regions on Earth. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:32 | |
It's the Caribbean. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:34 | |
'I'm travelling right around the Caribbean Sea. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:40 | |
'This second leg of the journey takes me | 0:00:40 | 0:00:42 | |
'from the tropical islands of Barbados and St Vincent, | 0:00:42 | 0:00:45 | |
'then along the coast of South America. | 0:00:45 | 0:00:47 | |
'On the Caribbean's glorious islands, | 0:00:51 | 0:00:54 | |
'I eat a pest in paradise...' | 0:00:54 | 0:00:55 | |
Yes, baby! | 0:00:55 | 0:00:57 | |
'..and I climb a volcano to meet locals | 0:00:57 | 0:01:00 | |
'with high hopes for an illicit crop.' | 0:01:00 | 0:01:03 | |
It's a sort of hidden, semi-secret marijuana valley. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:08 | |
'I travel through the badlands of Venezuela's Wild West...' | 0:01:08 | 0:01:12 | |
There was actually a shoot-out | 0:01:12 | 0:01:14 | |
between smugglers and National Guard. | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
'..and in the coastal mountains of Columbia, | 0:01:17 | 0:01:19 | |
'I meet an ancient people with a powerful message for the world.' | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
Do you think younger brother will ever listen? | 0:01:22 | 0:01:25 | |
'I was just off the coast of the beautiful island of Barbados, | 0:01:45 | 0:01:49 | |
'at the eastern edge of the Caribbean. | 0:01:49 | 0:01:51 | |
'With glorious beaches and fabulous villas, | 0:01:53 | 0:01:56 | |
'it's the Caribbean of the rich and the famous. | 0:01:56 | 0:01:58 | |
'But they still let me visit.' | 0:01:59 | 0:02:01 | |
Flipping heck! | 0:02:09 | 0:02:10 | |
That's what you call super-yachts. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:15 | |
But think of the upkeep. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:16 | |
Think of all the cleaning. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:18 | |
'The island is one of the jewels of the Caribbean, | 0:02:18 | 0:02:21 | |
'a proper bit of paradise.' | 0:02:21 | 0:02:23 | |
Goodness me! | 0:02:23 | 0:02:25 | |
Welcome to Barbados. | 0:02:26 | 0:02:28 | |
'Barbados is a major fly and flop destination for wealthy sun-seekers. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:37 | |
'Tourism's the main money-earner here, | 0:02:37 | 0:02:38 | |
'and has made the 285,000 Bajans | 0:02:38 | 0:02:41 | |
'among the richest people in the region. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:44 | |
'But an influx of oligarchs | 0:02:44 | 0:02:46 | |
'and movie stars buying homes has caused friction. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:49 | |
'On the best beaches, locals are now almost invisible. | 0:02:49 | 0:02:53 | |
'Many say they've been pushed out by property developers. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:57 | |
'I went to meet one man who's holding out | 0:02:57 | 0:02:59 | |
'against the tide of gentrification.' | 0:02:59 | 0:03:01 | |
All right. Hello, sir. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:04 | |
Simon Reeve, BBC. | 0:03:04 | 0:03:06 | |
-Pleased to meet you. -Lovely to meet you too, sir. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:08 | |
Yeah, come right in. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:10 | |
Neville Ifill lives in a house his grandparents bought. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:14 | |
DOG BARKS | 0:03:14 | 0:03:16 | |
You're going to show us the beach. OK, after you. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:21 | |
Mr Ifill, this is very nice. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:24 | |
A cool spot. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:27 | |
Can I ask, do you know how much money your grandma paid | 0:03:27 | 0:03:30 | |
for this plot of land, for the house originally? | 0:03:30 | 0:03:33 | |
24? | 0:03:36 | 0:03:37 | |
..four dollars. | 0:03:37 | 0:03:39 | |
And was this a less fashionable... | 0:03:44 | 0:03:47 | |
A cheaper place to buy then? | 0:03:47 | 0:03:49 | |
Yeah. Yeah. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:50 | |
In the past, much of this area was swampy mangroves | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
and only the poorest folk lived by the beach. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:58 | |
Now, this is one of the most expensive, | 0:03:58 | 0:04:00 | |
valuable bits of land on planet Earth. | 0:04:00 | 0:04:03 | |
Ironically, when slavery ended here black Bajans could only | 0:04:03 | 0:04:06 | |
afford homes along what's become the Platinum Coast. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:10 | |
Now, villas are replacing traditional homes. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:13 | |
Paths giving beach access to all are disappearing. | 0:04:13 | 0:04:17 | |
Some locals complain they've been purged from the landscape. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:19 | |
Is that how it feels? | 0:04:21 | 0:04:23 | |
Have people come to you and said, "Sell us your home"? | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
8 million? | 0:04:38 | 0:04:39 | |
US. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:40 | |
Why didn't you want to take such a large sum? | 0:04:40 | 0:04:44 | |
Yeah, everybody always says, "Oh, every man has their price"... | 0:04:55 | 0:04:58 | |
-Right. -..but it sounds like you haven't got one. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
You're not selling for anything! | 0:05:00 | 0:05:02 | |
With crazy sums on offer, it's not surprising many Bajans have | 0:05:09 | 0:05:12 | |
sold their simple beach houses and moved inland. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:15 | |
But it was inspiring to see Neville's dogged refusal | 0:05:15 | 0:05:18 | |
to take the cash. | 0:05:18 | 0:05:19 | |
Money's not everything, after all. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
So a lot of people might think it's completely mad to | 0:05:22 | 0:05:24 | |
turn down a multimillion pound offer for what is a fairly | 0:05:24 | 0:05:29 | |
small patch of land, but if you're in love with | 0:05:29 | 0:05:32 | |
a piece of paradise like this, | 0:05:32 | 0:05:35 | |
you can't really put a price on it. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
Look at that! | 0:05:38 | 0:05:40 | |
'Of course, the seas around the Caribbean | 0:05:44 | 0:05:46 | |
'offer much more than just a lovely view. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:48 | |
'Beneath the waves, the coral reef off Barbados | 0:05:48 | 0:05:51 | |
'is a haven of bio-diversity. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:53 | |
'Like coral reef around the world, it's critical to life in our oceans. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:58 | |
'I went to meet Andre Miller, a local marine biologist.' | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
Permission to come aboard. | 0:06:01 | 0:06:03 | |
-Come aboard. -Andre. -Simon. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:05 | |
-Hello. Simon Reeve. Hello. -Nice to meet you, brother. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:07 | |
Nice to meet you too. Thank you for having us. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:09 | |
'We headed out towards some of the most beautiful | 0:06:09 | 0:06:11 | |
'dive sites on the planet.' | 0:06:11 | 0:06:13 | |
'Coral reefs cover much less than 1% of the ocean floor, | 0:06:31 | 0:06:35 | |
'but support more than a quarter of all marine life. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:38 | |
'They act as nurseries for bigger fish | 0:06:38 | 0:06:40 | |
'and feeding ground for the larger species, | 0:06:40 | 0:06:43 | |
'so damage to a reef is a huge threat to life in our oceans. | 0:06:43 | 0:06:47 | |
'But now, more than three-quarters of the world's reefs are at risk | 0:06:52 | 0:06:56 | |
'of severe decline, threatened by pollution and our changing climate. | 0:06:56 | 0:07:00 | |
'Here in the Caribbean there's an additional villain. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:10 | |
'It's called the lionfish. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:14 | |
'It's a stunning creature with an array of venomous spines. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:18 | |
'Lionfish shouldn't be here. Their natural home is the Indo-Pacific. | 0:07:18 | 0:07:24 | |
'Scientists think they first got here in the ballast tanks of ships | 0:07:24 | 0:07:27 | |
'or after being released from aquariums. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:29 | |
'The trouble is, lionfish have a voracious appetite for the | 0:07:29 | 0:07:33 | |
'young of almost every other fish, and virtually nothing eats them.' | 0:07:33 | 0:07:38 | |
They have, when grown, no natural predators. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:41 | |
Every single day, they can eat half their body weight. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:44 | |
They can clean up a reef and remove all of the natural fish. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:47 | |
When we dissect these fish we find every species of | 0:07:47 | 0:07:50 | |
reef fish inside their stomachs. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:52 | |
Are you really quite worried then about what they're going to do here? | 0:07:52 | 0:07:55 | |
We are extremely worried. | 0:07:55 | 0:07:56 | |
If we don't do something now, in a few years | 0:07:56 | 0:07:59 | |
we might just be diving and looking at lionfish. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:01 | |
'A few years ago I saw lionfish far to the north in the Bahamas, | 0:08:05 | 0:08:09 | |
'while I was travelling around the Tropic of Cancer. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:12 | |
'Since then, their numbers have exploded | 0:08:12 | 0:08:14 | |
'and they've spread across the Caribbean. | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
'They pose such a threat to reefs that Andre and other | 0:08:20 | 0:08:23 | |
'scientists have decided the only way to stop them is to kill them.' | 0:08:23 | 0:08:28 | |
'He gave me a bit of training and asked me to help. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
'Conservationists don't enjoy taking life, | 0:08:35 | 0:08:37 | |
'but as we've introduced lionfish to the Caribbean, | 0:08:37 | 0:08:40 | |
'many argue it's our responsibility | 0:08:40 | 0:08:43 | |
'to stop them destroying this fragile eco-system.' | 0:08:43 | 0:08:45 | |
Good job, first I must say. | 0:08:47 | 0:08:48 | |
Well, thank you. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:50 | |
You filled up a container. Good job. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:52 | |
This is about 15 less lionfish we have to worry about. | 0:08:52 | 0:08:55 | |
-15 less. -It's a start. | 0:08:55 | 0:08:57 | |
Because the more people on shore start eating these, | 0:08:57 | 0:09:00 | |
then 15 becomes 1,500. | 0:09:00 | 0:09:03 | |
Eating them? | 0:09:03 | 0:09:04 | |
Yeah, more and more of our Barbadian people, more of us are eating these. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:08 | |
'Andre's culling them, | 0:09:08 | 0:09:09 | |
'but he's also encouraging locals to start eating lionfish. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:12 | |
'If people get a taste for them, fishermen will hunt them, | 0:09:12 | 0:09:15 | |
'but it's not easy to find anyone happy to handle the venomous fish.' | 0:09:15 | 0:09:20 | |
We are going to, first of all, cut those spines off. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:24 | |
'Lionfish spines are still dangerous even after the fish is dead.' | 0:09:24 | 0:09:27 | |
That's the business side right there. | 0:09:27 | 0:09:29 | |
And it is, of course, | 0:09:29 | 0:09:30 | |
the venom which I think really puts people off the idea of eating them. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:35 | |
But you don't actually sell lionfish here. | 0:09:35 | 0:09:38 | |
-No. -You give it up for free? | 0:09:38 | 0:09:40 | |
Yeah. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:41 | |
You give it away for free? | 0:09:41 | 0:09:43 | |
-Yeah. -Why? | 0:09:43 | 0:09:45 | |
People are scared of it. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:46 | |
People are scared of it. | 0:09:46 | 0:09:48 | |
People are scared. Once you cut this off, it's a normal fish. | 0:09:48 | 0:09:50 | |
If we take these to cook them, will you stay and try it? | 0:09:50 | 0:09:54 | |
-Will you try the meat? -Oh, no. | 0:09:54 | 0:09:55 | |
-ANDRE LAUGHS -Oh, go on! | 0:09:55 | 0:09:57 | |
No! | 0:09:57 | 0:09:59 | |
You don't like the idea of it or you've got something better to do? | 0:09:59 | 0:10:02 | |
'With a bit of careful cutting, the fish was ready for cooking, | 0:10:07 | 0:10:11 | |
'so we headed over to Oistins, a popular local food market.' | 0:10:11 | 0:10:14 | |
What happens if you can't get people here eating lionfish | 0:10:16 | 0:10:23 | |
and control their numbers in some sort of way? | 0:10:23 | 0:10:25 | |
What will the consequences be? | 0:10:25 | 0:10:26 | |
The word I would use is "critical". | 0:10:26 | 0:10:30 | |
We need to do something now, we need to be proactive, we need to act. | 0:10:30 | 0:10:34 | |
Lionfish has only been in Barbados for two years | 0:10:34 | 0:10:37 | |
and already it's on every single reef that I have ever dived on. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:41 | |
We're seeing them everywhere we go. | 0:10:41 | 0:10:44 | |
Thanks a lot. That's lovely of you. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:48 | |
Thank you very much. OK. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:49 | |
Lionfish. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:52 | |
Lionfish. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:53 | |
Mm. | 0:10:55 | 0:10:57 | |
That's really good. | 0:10:57 | 0:10:58 | |
It's delicious, actually. It's sort of, um, | 0:10:58 | 0:11:01 | |
buttery. | 0:11:01 | 0:11:03 | |
Oh, come on, you've got to get more people trying this. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:06 | |
All the ladies said they're going to try it. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:08 | |
Go on, try some. Who's going to try it? Come on! | 0:11:08 | 0:11:11 | |
Tell me what it tastes like? | 0:11:11 | 0:11:12 | |
Yes, baby. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:15 | |
It tastes just like snapper. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:19 | |
It tastes just like snapper. That's all I've been saying. | 0:11:19 | 0:11:21 | |
Just like snapper. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:23 | |
I think that's the best thing you could possibly hear. | 0:11:23 | 0:11:26 | |
And you've got to recommend it to people as well. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:28 | |
I will. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:30 | |
-Promise? -I will. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:31 | |
-Are you coming back next week? -Get it on George's menu. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:33 | |
-You're going to try and get this on George's menu? -Yeah, I will try. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:36 | |
That's what we're talking about. | 0:11:36 | 0:11:37 | |
-Excellent. -That's it. That's it. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:39 | |
Congratulations, mate. That's brilliant. Well done. Well done. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:45 | |
You worked hard there. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:46 | |
Mm-hm! | 0:11:46 | 0:11:47 | |
'I continued my journey around the Caribbean Sea, | 0:12:10 | 0:12:13 | |
'heading to the nearby island of St Vincent. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:16 | |
'It's part of a chain of islands | 0:12:16 | 0:12:17 | |
'with a population of around a 100,000, | 0:12:17 | 0:12:20 | |
'which have only been an independent nation since 1979.' | 0:12:20 | 0:12:23 | |
So we've managed to get the only trolley | 0:12:27 | 0:12:29 | |
in St Vincent Airport, luckily. | 0:12:29 | 0:12:32 | |
Who's this gentleman? | 0:12:32 | 0:12:34 | |
-Hello. -Hey. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:37 | |
-Are you Tari? -Yes, I'm Tari. | 0:12:37 | 0:12:39 | |
Hello, Tari. Simon Reeve. Nice to meet you. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:41 | |
Oh, Tari, yeah. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:42 | |
We're going to be together for a few days, Tari. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:44 | |
OK, that's great. I'm looking forward to that. | 0:12:44 | 0:12:47 | |
'The island is rugged and beautiful, | 0:12:49 | 0:12:52 | |
'with an active volcano to the north that Tari took me to see. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:55 | |
'St Vincent was a British colony on and off for more than 200 years. | 0:13:00 | 0:13:04 | |
'We filled it with slaves and plantations. | 0:13:04 | 0:13:06 | |
'St Vincent is poorer than Barbados, with average incomes of less | 0:13:09 | 0:13:12 | |
'than £100 a week, and it gets a lot less tourism.' | 0:13:12 | 0:13:15 | |
So this sand isn't the traditional golden sand | 0:13:17 | 0:13:20 | |
that many tourists expect when they're on holiday. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:24 | |
It's not so fantastic for the tourism industry here, | 0:13:24 | 0:13:27 | |
but the volcano | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
is certainly very good at pumping out nutrients. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
I mean, the soil here is very rich, very fertile. | 0:13:33 | 0:13:37 | |
'That fertile volcanic soil provides the island with | 0:13:42 | 0:13:45 | |
'most of its earnings. | 0:13:45 | 0:13:46 | |
'For decades, bananas were St Vincent's single biggest export, | 0:13:48 | 0:13:51 | |
'but not any more.' | 0:13:51 | 0:13:53 | |
Oh... | 0:13:55 | 0:13:57 | |
So now we start to climb the volcano. | 0:13:57 | 0:13:59 | |
'But we weren't going up to peer in to a crater. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:02 | |
'With the help of the volcanic soil, | 0:14:02 | 0:14:04 | |
'many farmers in this area are turning to a more illicit crop - | 0:14:04 | 0:14:08 | |
'marijuana.' | 0:14:08 | 0:14:09 | |
'The US government says St Vincent is the source | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
'of the majority of cannabis in the Caribbean | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
'and we were heading to the secret farms where it's grown.' | 0:14:16 | 0:14:19 | |
It's a hell of an effort to get to these plantations. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:23 | |
We don't know what sort of reception we're going to receive | 0:14:23 | 0:14:25 | |
when we get there. | 0:14:25 | 0:14:27 | |
'As in most of the Caribbean, | 0:14:27 | 0:14:29 | |
'growing or using the drug is illegal here.' | 0:14:29 | 0:14:31 | |
Somebody's helpfully left a rope here. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:33 | |
'The US military has backed raids on farms here | 0:14:36 | 0:14:39 | |
'and the destruction of crops. | 0:14:39 | 0:14:41 | |
'As I discovered, | 0:14:41 | 0:14:43 | |
'the marijuana plantations aren't exactly hard to find.' | 0:14:43 | 0:14:46 | |
Look, I can see a hut just ahead. | 0:14:46 | 0:14:48 | |
And those bushes there. | 0:14:48 | 0:14:50 | |
I think we've reached the plantations. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:52 | |
This is where they're growing marijuana. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
I can see more acres over there. | 0:14:56 | 0:15:00 | |
There's a shack with more marijuana up there in the distance, | 0:15:00 | 0:15:03 | |
up here on the hill, down below over there. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:06 | |
It's quite an extraordinary sight. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:10 | |
It's a sort of hidden, semi-secret marijuana valley. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:15 | |
'As we got close to another farm, Tari told us to stay back | 0:15:17 | 0:15:21 | |
'and keep our camera hidden.' | 0:15:21 | 0:15:22 | |
There's a farmer just up ahead with a field, | 0:15:26 | 0:15:29 | |
and we're hoping we can go and speak to him | 0:15:29 | 0:15:32 | |
but, not surprisingly, | 0:15:32 | 0:15:34 | |
he's not entirely keen that a TV crew turn up. | 0:15:34 | 0:15:37 | |
Tari's just going to have a chat with him, try and negotiate. | 0:15:37 | 0:15:40 | |
-Oh. -Simon. -Yeah? | 0:15:44 | 0:15:46 | |
Let's go, let's go. OK. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
That's Simon. | 0:15:58 | 0:15:59 | |
Hello, sir. Simon. Very nice to meet you. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:05 | |
That's Craig with the camera. | 0:16:06 | 0:16:08 | |
Safe, safe. You're safe, means it's OK. | 0:16:08 | 0:16:11 | |
'They were a bit camera shy to begin with, but it wasn't long | 0:16:11 | 0:16:15 | |
'before the farmers produced some weed, and they all began to relax.' | 0:16:15 | 0:16:18 | |
'Even farmers coming from other fields didn't seem to | 0:16:20 | 0:16:23 | |
'mind our presence.' | 0:16:23 | 0:16:25 | |
Are you all right there, sir? Good afternoon to you. | 0:16:25 | 0:16:28 | |
Good afternoon. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:29 | |
Completely different to the reaction we would get | 0:16:29 | 0:16:32 | |
if we tried to go to marijuana plantations in Central America, | 0:16:32 | 0:16:35 | |
for example, where we would be quite likely to encounter guards | 0:16:35 | 0:16:40 | |
with assault rifles, and possibly would have been shot | 0:16:40 | 0:16:43 | |
twice in the head and dumped by the side of the road. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:45 | |
There's none of that here. | 0:16:45 | 0:16:47 | |
This is not marijuana being grown by organised crime, | 0:16:47 | 0:16:50 | |
it's marijuana being grown by farmers. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:53 | |
'After we'd hung out with them for a while, | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
'one of the farmers agreed to talk.' | 0:16:56 | 0:16:58 | |
Do you make a lot of money from growing marijuana? | 0:16:58 | 0:17:00 | |
Come on, come on. We want to know whether you're a rich man. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:11 | |
This is a T-shirt that's seen better days, | 0:17:11 | 0:17:13 | |
but you might have your Armani suit back at your home. | 0:17:13 | 0:17:17 | |
When you say "a lot of money" how are you...? | 0:17:17 | 0:17:20 | |
-How are you defining that? -Yeah. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:22 | |
Yeah, fair point, fair point. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:23 | |
I'm presuming you make a lot more money growing marijuana than | 0:17:23 | 0:17:26 | |
you do growing bananas? | 0:17:26 | 0:17:27 | |
-Obviously. -Right. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:28 | |
But nobody's bought a yacht or a Bentley? | 0:17:59 | 0:18:03 | |
The way you're saying that it's as if it's just another crop. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:23 | |
A green gold. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:26 | |
It is. It is. | 0:18:26 | 0:18:28 | |
'There are thought to be up to 3,000 cannabis farmers on the island. | 0:18:30 | 0:18:34 | |
'Many are hoping their trade in green gold will soon be legal. | 0:18:34 | 0:18:39 | |
'There's a global trend towards decriminalising the growing | 0:18:39 | 0:18:42 | |
'and use of marijuana. | 0:18:42 | 0:18:44 | |
'Farmers here think they're well placed to export to the US | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
'and the rest of the world.' | 0:18:47 | 0:18:49 | |
'It's a key issue across the Caribbean region.' | 0:18:49 | 0:18:52 | |
If it's legalised you'll be allowed to legally export it | 0:19:01 | 0:19:06 | |
from St Vincent. You could make a lot of money from that. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:09 | |
How? | 0:19:11 | 0:19:13 | |
'Thanks to Bob Marley and reggae, | 0:19:28 | 0:19:30 | |
'many associate the Caribbean with cannabis, however, | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
'it's illegal here and the vast majority of people don't use it. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:37 | |
'But it's not just local farmers who think | 0:19:37 | 0:19:39 | |
'legalisation would be a good idea.' | 0:19:39 | 0:19:41 | |
-Afternoon. -How are you doing? | 0:19:41 | 0:19:43 | |
-How are you? -I'm good. | 0:19:43 | 0:19:44 | |
We're here to see the Prime Minister. We're from BBC Television. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:48 | |
'The desire for a change in the law now extends | 0:19:48 | 0:19:50 | |
'right to the top of the island.' | 0:19:50 | 0:19:52 | |
Prime Minister. | 0:19:52 | 0:19:54 | |
Dr Ralph Gonsalves has been St Vincent's Prime Minister since 2001. | 0:19:54 | 0:19:58 | |
We're happy you're here. | 0:19:58 | 0:19:59 | |
So this is your official home? | 0:19:59 | 0:20:01 | |
This is the official residence of the Prime Minister. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:04 | |
Goodness me. Who have you seen in this room? | 0:20:04 | 0:20:06 | |
Many, many important people. | 0:20:06 | 0:20:09 | |
That picture was given to me by Fidel. | 0:20:09 | 0:20:12 | |
-By Fidel Castro? -Yes. | 0:20:12 | 0:20:14 | |
And what a view! | 0:20:14 | 0:20:15 | |
It's a fantastic view. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:17 | |
That's not bad, is it? | 0:20:17 | 0:20:18 | |
'Several countries and more than 20 American states have now | 0:20:19 | 0:20:22 | |
'decriminalised recreational or medical use of marijuana. | 0:20:22 | 0:20:26 | |
'Hundreds of American farms are now legally growing cannabis. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:30 | |
'Dr Gonsalves believes it's time for St Vincent | 0:20:30 | 0:20:32 | |
'to start competing or the Caribbean could miss out.' | 0:20:32 | 0:20:36 | |
The current state of the law, | 0:20:36 | 0:20:39 | |
it ought to be reformed. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:41 | |
And that is part of the conversation which we are having, | 0:20:42 | 0:20:45 | |
first in respect of medical marijuana, and also in respect | 0:20:45 | 0:20:49 | |
of possibly decriminalising for small quantities. | 0:20:49 | 0:20:54 | |
What you're setting out there is the sort of different levels | 0:20:54 | 0:20:57 | |
of reduction that could happen or dilution to the current laws. | 0:20:57 | 0:21:01 | |
-Yes. -There's allowing marijuana for medical purposes. | 0:21:01 | 0:21:05 | |
-Yes. -There's decriminalising use of marijuana, | 0:21:05 | 0:21:09 | |
-the small levels of use of marijuana. -Yes. | 0:21:09 | 0:21:11 | |
And then, of course, there's completely legalising | 0:21:11 | 0:21:14 | |
marijuana use, production, exportation, etc. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:18 | |
That would be at the extreme end, wouldn't it? | 0:21:18 | 0:21:20 | |
Yes, well, what we'll have to... | 0:21:20 | 0:21:22 | |
Clearly, if we dilly and dally, | 0:21:22 | 0:21:25 | |
if we procrastinate too long | 0:21:25 | 0:21:28 | |
you can find that... | 0:21:28 | 0:21:30 | |
..we are importing... | 0:21:32 | 0:21:34 | |
..pharmaceutical products with a marijuana base when we, | 0:21:36 | 0:21:42 | |
in fact, grow it in our own region, | 0:21:42 | 0:21:46 | |
and we can't make any money from it. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:49 | |
'The climate in the Caribbean means | 0:21:49 | 0:21:51 | |
'this is an ideal area to grow marijuana.' | 0:21:51 | 0:21:54 | |
'Cannabis from St Vincent | 0:22:01 | 0:22:02 | |
'is said to be among the best quality on the planet. | 0:22:02 | 0:22:05 | |
'Dr Gonsalves is lobbying neighbours to consider | 0:22:05 | 0:22:08 | |
'changing the law across the entire region. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:11 | |
'If marijuana is going to be legalised in much of the world, | 0:22:11 | 0:22:14 | |
'he wants his farmers to make a killing.' | 0:22:14 | 0:22:17 | |
'Think of the Caribbean and you think of islands, | 0:22:26 | 0:22:29 | |
'but my journey was taking me around the Caribbean Sea, | 0:22:29 | 0:22:32 | |
'and its waters also lap the beaches of South and Central America. | 0:22:32 | 0:22:36 | |
'My next stop was Venezuela.' | 0:22:36 | 0:22:39 | |
Ah! | 0:22:39 | 0:22:40 | |
So we've arrived in Venezuela. | 0:22:41 | 0:22:43 | |
You might be wondering why I'm here. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:45 | |
It's not traditionally thought of as being a Caribbean country, | 0:22:45 | 0:22:47 | |
but it is. And, in fact, | 0:22:47 | 0:22:50 | |
it's got the longest Caribbean Sea coastline of any nation. | 0:22:50 | 0:22:55 | |
So we're in the car, we're heading in to Caracas, the capital. | 0:23:00 | 0:23:04 | |
We've got Virginia, who is going to be guiding us around Venezuela. | 0:23:04 | 0:23:08 | |
Hi. | 0:23:08 | 0:23:09 | |
Did you just say "hi" in a sort of shy, camera way? | 0:23:09 | 0:23:13 | |
Sort of. I'll get better. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:14 | |
Look at that. You suddenly emerge into the city. | 0:23:16 | 0:23:19 | |
'Venezuela should be one of the richest countries on Earth. | 0:23:21 | 0:23:24 | |
'It has the largest proven oil reserves in the world and has | 0:23:24 | 0:23:27 | |
'earned more than a trillion dollars from oil in the past 20 years. | 0:23:27 | 0:23:31 | |
'Until a few years ago it was led by the charismatic left-wing | 0:23:32 | 0:23:35 | |
'firebrand, Hugo Chavez. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:38 | |
'He'd been elected partly as a reaction against America's | 0:23:38 | 0:23:41 | |
'meddling in South and Central America. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:44 | |
'Chavez used some of the oil money to reduce extreme poverty | 0:23:44 | 0:23:47 | |
'and said he'd create a socialist utopia. | 0:23:47 | 0:23:49 | |
'There is government funded housing for some, | 0:23:51 | 0:23:53 | |
'yet because of gobsmacking economic mismanagement | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
'one in three people in oil-rich Venezuela are poor. | 0:23:56 | 0:24:00 | |
'Since Chavez died in 2013, things have gone from bad to worse. | 0:24:00 | 0:24:05 | |
'Venezuela's now a country in turmoil.' | 0:24:05 | 0:24:07 | |
We need to be a little bit careful filming out on the street, | 0:24:08 | 0:24:11 | |
I think I'm right in saying. Don't we, Virginia? | 0:24:11 | 0:24:13 | |
Yes. The first time I came here, neighbours kept on telling me | 0:24:13 | 0:24:17 | |
to put my camera away because I was going to be shot from... | 0:24:17 | 0:24:20 | |
You know, by people from above. | 0:24:20 | 0:24:21 | |
-Shot? -Shot. | 0:24:21 | 0:24:23 | |
Bloody hell. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:24 | |
'Caracas is one of the most dangerous cities in the world. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:32 | |
'We were heading into a notorious building called the Tower of David.' | 0:24:32 | 0:24:36 | |
What's with the motorbikes? | 0:24:37 | 0:24:39 | |
They're going to drive us | 0:24:39 | 0:24:42 | |
up to the 7th or 8th floor just to sort of make the hike shorter. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
OK. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:48 | |
This is a sort of unfinished car park by the look of it, | 0:24:57 | 0:25:00 | |
multistorey car park. | 0:25:00 | 0:25:02 | |
And this is where we get out. | 0:25:08 | 0:25:10 | |
Virginia, what is this place? | 0:25:15 | 0:25:17 | |
Well, it was originally meant to be a bank, | 0:25:17 | 0:25:21 | |
one of the leading sort of banking institutions of the country, | 0:25:21 | 0:25:24 | |
but after it went broke it was abandoned and then taken over by... | 0:25:24 | 0:25:29 | |
I don't know, close to 200 people that turned it in to their homes. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:34 | |
So it's an abandoned skyscraper? | 0:25:34 | 0:25:36 | |
It's a squatters' skyscraper, yes. | 0:25:36 | 0:25:39 | |
'Driven by poverty and a lack of proper housing, | 0:25:39 | 0:25:41 | |
'the number of squatters here quickly grew.' | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
Oh, my God, look at that! | 0:25:48 | 0:25:50 | |
'Almost 3,000 people have been living here. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:53 | |
'Families have raised children in the tower, | 0:25:53 | 0:25:55 | |
'carrying everything for their flats up by hand.' | 0:25:55 | 0:25:57 | |
That's astonishing! | 0:25:58 | 0:26:00 | |
'The tower has had a fearsome reputation. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:03 | |
'Violent drug and kidnap gangs operated from here.' | 0:26:03 | 0:26:06 | |
My God, look at this. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:09 | |
'And there are stories of people being pushed to their deaths | 0:26:09 | 0:26:11 | |
'tens of storeys below.' | 0:26:11 | 0:26:13 | |
Imagine bringing children up right next to this. | 0:26:18 | 0:26:21 | |
I think it shows the level of desperation, really. | 0:26:24 | 0:26:27 | |
That families have been prepared to do this. | 0:26:27 | 0:26:29 | |
This is not, by a long stretch, a safe environment | 0:26:29 | 0:26:34 | |
to raise your youngsters in the sense that, you know, | 0:26:34 | 0:26:38 | |
they could fall down the stairs, | 0:26:38 | 0:26:40 | |
they could fall off the edge of the building! | 0:26:40 | 0:26:42 | |
Look, just over here, they could fall through a gap. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:46 | |
Look. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:48 | |
This is not good. | 0:26:48 | 0:26:49 | |
And yet, for the people who live here | 0:26:50 | 0:26:53 | |
it was better than life outside. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:56 | |
Safer here in this shanty town in the sky | 0:26:56 | 0:27:00 | |
than out there in the city. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:02 | |
'I found the tower astonishing. | 0:27:02 | 0:27:04 | |
'In the absence of government help, people got on with organising | 0:27:04 | 0:27:07 | |
'things themselves, even opening businesses.' | 0:27:07 | 0:27:09 | |
There's a little shop there. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:11 | |
'From barbers' shops to nurseries, | 0:27:13 | 0:27:15 | |
'the tower was like a vertical high street.' | 0:27:15 | 0:27:17 | |
What's going on here? | 0:27:19 | 0:27:21 | |
People are making cookie cutters. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:23 | |
That's a whole production line. | 0:27:23 | 0:27:25 | |
Making cookie cutters! | 0:27:25 | 0:27:27 | |
Goodness me. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:30 | |
'Despite an intermittent supply of electricity and water, | 0:27:30 | 0:27:33 | |
'there's even industry in the tower.' | 0:27:33 | 0:27:36 | |
Wow. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:38 | |
You've got a whole factory going on in here. | 0:27:38 | 0:27:41 | |
We've interrupted you during lunch. I'm very sorry. | 0:27:41 | 0:27:44 | |
It looks as though you're doing pretty well. | 0:27:53 | 0:27:55 | |
How many cookie cutters are you making? | 0:27:55 | 0:27:57 | |
25,000 a week! | 0:28:01 | 0:28:02 | |
That's... | 0:28:02 | 0:28:04 | |
His fingers went... Thumbs went up like that. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:06 | |
Could you have achieved this if you hadn't been living in the tower? | 0:28:06 | 0:28:09 | |
Look. Wilmer here has just given us business cards. | 0:28:30 | 0:28:33 | |
He's such a businessman. | 0:28:33 | 0:28:34 | |
I think he's thinking about exporting to the European Union. | 0:28:34 | 0:28:38 | |
We might be able to go in to business together importing | 0:28:38 | 0:28:41 | |
cookie cutters in to the UK maybe. | 0:28:41 | 0:28:44 | |
'People are currently being rehoused out of the tower, but residents | 0:28:47 | 0:28:51 | |
'have taken an enormous pride in the place, | 0:28:51 | 0:28:53 | |
'creating order out of chaos.... | 0:28:53 | 0:28:55 | |
There's a beauty parlour on this floor. | 0:28:55 | 0:28:58 | |
'They have committees to keep charge of cleaning and security, | 0:29:01 | 0:29:04 | |
'a real community.' | 0:29:04 | 0:29:06 | |
It's truly inspiring that they were able to build not only, | 0:29:06 | 0:29:09 | |
you know, houses out of bricks, but also build a sort of strong | 0:29:09 | 0:29:12 | |
community with a strong sense of solidarity among them. | 0:29:12 | 0:29:16 | |
You know, they really do look other each other's neighbours. | 0:29:16 | 0:29:19 | |
In a way, this speaks of a more successful | 0:29:19 | 0:29:21 | |
system of organising than most Venezuelans have outside. | 0:29:21 | 0:29:26 | |
'There is wealth in this country and in this city, | 0:29:29 | 0:29:32 | |
'but it's in the hands of just a few. | 0:29:32 | 0:29:35 | |
'Most people are poor and struggling. | 0:29:35 | 0:29:38 | |
'Despite Venezuela's oil wealth, there are shortages in the shops | 0:29:38 | 0:29:42 | |
'and a lack of decent health care. | 0:29:42 | 0:29:44 | |
'Virginia took me to the | 0:29:44 | 0:29:46 | |
'Perez de Leon Hospital which helps serve the largest slum in Caracas.' | 0:29:46 | 0:29:50 | |
Goodness me. It looks like a prison. | 0:29:52 | 0:29:54 | |
'We met Dr Mariela Formigoni.' | 0:29:54 | 0:29:56 | |
What's with the sort of prison level of security here? | 0:29:58 | 0:30:03 | |
Why is that needed? | 0:30:03 | 0:30:04 | |
'Around 20,000 people are murdered in Venezuela each year. | 0:30:30 | 0:30:34 | |
'Outside of a war zone, | 0:30:34 | 0:30:36 | |
'Caracas has the second highest murder rate in the world. | 0:30:36 | 0:30:39 | |
'It's a symptom of poverty, ineffective policing, | 0:30:39 | 0:30:42 | |
'and failing government. | 0:30:42 | 0:30:44 | |
'But dealing with violence is just one of the challenges | 0:30:44 | 0:30:47 | |
'facing this hospital. | 0:30:47 | 0:30:48 | |
'The bigger issue here is how to treat patients, | 0:30:48 | 0:30:51 | |
'despite shortages of doctors and even medicines.' | 0:30:51 | 0:30:54 | |
How easy is it for you to get basic drugs | 0:30:56 | 0:31:00 | |
and medication for your children? | 0:31:00 | 0:31:02 | |
That's a basic painkiller. You can't even get basic painkillers? | 0:31:31 | 0:31:35 | |
'Of course, it's the poorest here who are suffering the most.' | 0:31:48 | 0:31:52 | |
I'm slightly blown away, | 0:31:56 | 0:31:58 | |
because everything we see here we have to see through... | 0:31:58 | 0:32:02 | |
While at the same time remembering how incredibly rich | 0:32:02 | 0:32:06 | |
this country is supposed to be. | 0:32:06 | 0:32:09 | |
This is not the hospital of a wealthy country. | 0:32:10 | 0:32:13 | |
'It's not just hospitals that are breaking point. | 0:32:17 | 0:32:20 | |
'There are queues for food, building supplies, even loo paper. | 0:32:20 | 0:32:23 | |
'It's a consequence of government restrictions on | 0:32:25 | 0:32:27 | |
'foreign currency which mean businesses don't want to import, | 0:32:27 | 0:32:31 | |
'and Soviet-era controls on prices that mean shops don't want to sell. | 0:32:31 | 0:32:35 | |
'The country felt close to collapse. | 0:32:36 | 0:32:38 | |
'Next day, we left Caracas and headed towards the Colombian border, | 0:32:46 | 0:32:50 | |
'in Venezuela's Wild West. | 0:32:50 | 0:32:52 | |
'We were heading in to a tricky area, so we'd swapped hire cars | 0:32:53 | 0:32:57 | |
'for more discreet local wheels, | 0:32:57 | 0:33:00 | |
'complete with a shag pile dashboard.' | 0:33:00 | 0:33:03 | |
We're going to hop out. Honestly, this is quite interesting. | 0:33:12 | 0:33:15 | |
But he does it right to the top, doesn't he? | 0:33:18 | 0:33:21 | |
OK, so he's put 68 litres in. | 0:33:22 | 0:33:23 | |
How much is that costing you? | 0:33:23 | 0:33:25 | |
It cost 6 Ps to fill up the tank right now, | 0:33:27 | 0:33:29 | |
so that close to a US dollar. | 0:33:29 | 0:33:31 | |
-One US dollar? -To fill up a 60 litre tank, yes. | 0:33:31 | 0:33:34 | |
'And many well-connected people here can fill a tank even cheaper.' | 0:33:36 | 0:33:39 | |
What you pay for a litre is what I pay a whole year to fill | 0:33:41 | 0:33:45 | |
up my tank once or twice a month. | 0:33:45 | 0:33:47 | |
An entire year? | 0:33:49 | 0:33:51 | |
Yeah. | 0:33:51 | 0:33:52 | |
My yearly budget for petrol is what you spend in one litre. | 0:33:52 | 0:33:56 | |
This is extra, extra, extra bonkers, isn't it? | 0:33:56 | 0:33:58 | |
'Petrol here is the cheapest in the world | 0:34:03 | 0:34:06 | |
'and is sold for far less than it costs to produce, | 0:34:06 | 0:34:08 | |
'thanks to a government subsidy introduced decades ago.' | 0:34:08 | 0:34:12 | |
'The cost of subsidising fuel is gradually bankrupting | 0:34:13 | 0:34:17 | |
'the country, but no government has been brave enough | 0:34:17 | 0:34:19 | |
'to raise prices, even though the subsidy benefits the rich, | 0:34:19 | 0:34:23 | |
'who have more cars, rather than the poor.' | 0:34:23 | 0:34:26 | |
Look. There's a nodding donkey just here in this suburban neighbourhood. | 0:34:31 | 0:34:36 | |
There's a gentleman just over there. Could we just ask him | 0:34:41 | 0:34:44 | |
how often, does it pump all the time? | 0:34:44 | 0:34:47 | |
Do you see the benefits from it? | 0:34:56 | 0:34:58 | |
I don't understand where the money's gone. | 0:35:21 | 0:35:24 | |
This has been pumping for years. | 0:35:24 | 0:35:26 | |
Venezuela, it's the biggest... | 0:35:26 | 0:35:29 | |
One of the biggest oil producers in the world. | 0:35:29 | 0:35:32 | |
Where does it go? Where does the money go? | 0:35:32 | 0:35:34 | |
'It's extraordinary. Venezuela and Venezuelans should be rich. | 0:35:46 | 0:35:51 | |
'It's unclear where the country's oil wealth has gone. | 0:35:51 | 0:35:54 | |
'Much has been stolen or lost through inefficiency and rampant | 0:35:54 | 0:35:57 | |
'corruption, and vast sums have been siphoned off when petrol is | 0:35:57 | 0:36:01 | |
'smuggled across the border to Colombia, where I was headed next.' | 0:36:01 | 0:36:04 | |
What's going on here? | 0:36:06 | 0:36:08 | |
Well, basically, the kids are bringing over gas | 0:36:08 | 0:36:11 | |
and they're going to do a quick refill for this guy. | 0:36:11 | 0:36:14 | |
'Because of Venezuelan subsidies, petrol costs a hundred times | 0:36:14 | 0:36:18 | |
'more across the border in Colombia, | 0:36:18 | 0:36:20 | |
'so profits for smuggling are huge. | 0:36:20 | 0:36:23 | |
'There are supposed to be controls and restrictions on petrol sales | 0:36:23 | 0:36:26 | |
'near the border, but we saw countless drivers filling | 0:36:26 | 0:36:29 | |
'huge tanks they would take to Colombia and sell. | 0:36:29 | 0:36:32 | |
'Our route to the border was a smugglers' highway.' | 0:36:35 | 0:36:38 | |
Look, they're turning off. | 0:36:41 | 0:36:43 | |
They're just going to go down... | 0:36:43 | 0:36:45 | |
Well, a little track down to the side... | 0:36:45 | 0:36:47 | |
..which probably means there's a checkpoint just up ahead. | 0:36:51 | 0:36:54 | |
Yeah, I can even see it! | 0:36:54 | 0:36:56 | |
'We went through numerous checkpoints | 0:36:56 | 0:36:58 | |
'on the way to the border, | 0:36:58 | 0:37:00 | |
'but they were clearly not much of a deterrent.' | 0:37:00 | 0:37:02 | |
They've obviously just gone round the checkpoint to get away | 0:37:06 | 0:37:11 | |
with whatever it is they're smuggling. | 0:37:11 | 0:37:13 | |
'Guns, drugs and food, as well as petrol, are smuggled here. | 0:37:13 | 0:37:17 | |
'Huge profits are at stake | 0:37:17 | 0:37:19 | |
'and the border region has become extremely dangerous.' | 0:37:19 | 0:37:21 | |
Oh, it's, like, an army convoy. | 0:37:21 | 0:37:23 | |
It was a contingent of the National Guard. | 0:37:24 | 0:37:27 | |
I just heard there was actually a violent confrontation yesterday, | 0:37:27 | 0:37:30 | |
and a shoot-out between smugglers and the National Guard. | 0:37:30 | 0:37:36 | |
'Gangs, the police and politicians are all said | 0:37:36 | 0:37:38 | |
'to be involved with the smuggling. | 0:37:38 | 0:37:40 | |
'As we got closer to the border, it seemed everyone was at it.' | 0:37:40 | 0:37:43 | |
And all those there! | 0:37:43 | 0:37:45 | |
Amazing! We're just off the main road away from the checkpoint | 0:37:50 | 0:37:53 | |
and this is all completely illegal here. | 0:37:53 | 0:37:56 | |
It's like a square mile of black market illegal madness. | 0:38:00 | 0:38:04 | |
Everybody is trading fuel here. | 0:38:05 | 0:38:07 | |
'It's been officially estimated that roughly £30 million worth | 0:38:09 | 0:38:12 | |
'of fuel is smuggled out of Venezuela every single week. | 0:38:12 | 0:38:17 | |
'But the government here has been a bit hopeless at preventing | 0:38:17 | 0:38:20 | |
'the national coffers being bled dry.' | 0:38:20 | 0:38:22 | |
We were spotted by one of the guys, so we can't do a drive around again. | 0:38:25 | 0:38:28 | |
OK, the locks just went down, is that because he's worried for us? | 0:38:28 | 0:38:31 | |
Yes. It might get a bit aggressive. | 0:38:31 | 0:38:34 | |
We were spotted as foreigners or as TV people? | 0:38:34 | 0:38:38 | |
TV people. | 0:38:38 | 0:38:40 | |
OK, not good. | 0:38:40 | 0:38:41 | |
'The fuel subsidy here costs more than government spending | 0:38:44 | 0:38:48 | |
'on education and health care combined. | 0:38:48 | 0:38:50 | |
'As we headed towards the border, our driver admitted | 0:38:50 | 0:38:53 | |
'he was also a smuggler, | 0:38:53 | 0:38:54 | |
'and even he was angry and worried about the state of the country.' | 0:38:54 | 0:38:57 | |
So how often will you do a run across? | 0:38:59 | 0:39:03 | |
TRANSLATION: Once or twice a day. | 0:39:03 | 0:39:05 | |
And how much money can a person make with a car like this? | 0:39:05 | 0:39:10 | |
It's very lucrative for doing almost nothing. | 0:39:14 | 0:39:17 | |
And it's easy money. | 0:39:17 | 0:39:19 | |
Normally, I can sit here driving for two or three hours | 0:39:24 | 0:39:28 | |
and I can make as much as a professional in this country | 0:39:28 | 0:39:31 | |
makes in a month. | 0:39:31 | 0:39:33 | |
Where do you think this country will be in five years' time? | 0:39:35 | 0:39:38 | |
Every day, I think about what this country used to be like | 0:39:42 | 0:39:45 | |
and what it's like now. | 0:39:45 | 0:39:47 | |
From top to bottom, everything is bad. | 0:39:47 | 0:39:50 | |
It's difficult to see a future for Venezuela. | 0:39:51 | 0:39:54 | |
We're getting close to the border with Colombia now | 0:39:59 | 0:40:02 | |
and I'm coming to the conclusion that Venezuela is | 0:40:02 | 0:40:05 | |
one of the worst-managed countries that I have ever visited. | 0:40:05 | 0:40:09 | |
I've been in poorer places and I've been in war-torn countries, | 0:40:09 | 0:40:13 | |
but I don't think I've been in one which has got quite this much | 0:40:13 | 0:40:16 | |
natural wealth, and yet is being so badly run. | 0:40:16 | 0:40:20 | |
What a completely lawless situation. | 0:40:24 | 0:40:26 | |
Right at the V that marks the end of Venezuela. | 0:40:29 | 0:40:32 | |
'It's a beautiful country with so much going for it. | 0:40:32 | 0:40:36 | |
'But, to be honest, the muppetry of the government here meant | 0:40:36 | 0:40:39 | |
'I wasn't sad to move on.' | 0:40:39 | 0:40:41 | |
Here we go, Colombian immigration right here. | 0:40:41 | 0:40:44 | |
There's a cop here smoking a fag. | 0:40:47 | 0:40:48 | |
Virginia, thank you so much. May we have a little...? | 0:40:58 | 0:41:01 | |
Of course. Good luck. | 0:41:01 | 0:41:03 | |
'Until recently, Colombia was being torn apart by decades | 0:41:17 | 0:41:20 | |
'of violence, fuelled by the multibillion pound cocaine trade. | 0:41:20 | 0:41:24 | |
'But over the last ten years, life has really improved here, | 0:41:27 | 0:41:30 | |
'and after Venezuela, Colombia felt like a bit of a relief.' | 0:41:30 | 0:41:33 | |
Is she selling coffee? Can we get one? | 0:41:35 | 0:41:37 | |
Tres. Tres. | 0:41:41 | 0:41:45 | |
"Cafe for the gringo," she said. | 0:41:46 | 0:41:48 | |
Look at this. This is a motorway service station in Colombia. | 0:41:50 | 0:41:53 | |
-Gracias. -Gracias. | 0:41:57 | 0:41:59 | |
'We headed west, along Colombia's Caribbean coast, | 0:42:04 | 0:42:07 | |
'towards an area officially called "the Banana Zone".' | 0:42:07 | 0:42:10 | |
Look at all of them! | 0:42:15 | 0:42:16 | |
'Bananas are one of the five most important crops in the world.' | 0:42:18 | 0:42:22 | |
We've arrived. | 0:42:24 | 0:42:25 | |
'In the UK we eat an astonishing 5 billion bananas a year. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:29 | |
'A quarter come from Colombia.' | 0:42:29 | 0:42:32 | |
Mathilde, what's with the blue bags? | 0:42:32 | 0:42:34 | |
TRANSLATION: There's a pesticide which protects the bananas, | 0:42:36 | 0:42:39 | |
so we can produce perfect bananas. | 0:42:39 | 0:42:41 | |
'Around 80% of people in this part of Colombia are involved | 0:42:43 | 0:42:46 | |
'in the banana trade.' | 0:42:46 | 0:42:48 | |
OK, thank you, Mathilde. A very sharp knife. | 0:42:48 | 0:42:50 | |
'Time for me to join them.' | 0:42:50 | 0:42:51 | |
-Take the leaves off first? -Yeah. | 0:42:54 | 0:42:56 | |
Sorry. | 0:42:57 | 0:42:58 | |
'Much of the industry here has signed up to the Fair Trade scheme.' | 0:42:58 | 0:43:02 | |
Bueno? | 0:43:02 | 0:43:03 | |
Now hang on, that's got the bananas on. | 0:43:04 | 0:43:06 | |
'It ensures workers receive better wages | 0:43:06 | 0:43:08 | |
'and improved working conditions.' | 0:43:08 | 0:43:10 | |
Ah! | 0:43:11 | 0:43:13 | |
Bloody hell, that's heavy! | 0:43:13 | 0:43:15 | |
This bloke's a train engine. Bueno. | 0:43:23 | 0:43:25 | |
'Some of the farm workers here, including Mathilde Castro, | 0:43:31 | 0:43:35 | |
'used to be farmers themselves. | 0:43:35 | 0:43:38 | |
'They were part of a co-operative that owned | 0:43:38 | 0:43:40 | |
'and ran its own banana plantation. | 0:43:40 | 0:43:43 | |
'But they were sucked in to the violence of Colombia's civil | 0:43:43 | 0:43:46 | |
'conflict, when guerrilla groups fought | 0:43:46 | 0:43:49 | |
'against the national government | 0:43:49 | 0:43:51 | |
'and the country descended into near-chaos. | 0:43:51 | 0:43:54 | |
'The conflict tore their lives apart.' | 0:43:54 | 0:43:56 | |
TRANSLATION: Some men came and killed my partner and his two brothers. | 0:44:04 | 0:44:08 | |
We were threatened and told if we stayed we'd be killed, | 0:44:10 | 0:44:14 | |
so we had to leave. | 0:44:14 | 0:44:15 | |
Who did this? | 0:44:18 | 0:44:19 | |
The paramilitaries. | 0:44:21 | 0:44:22 | |
So these are the right-wing paramilitaries who were often | 0:44:24 | 0:44:28 | |
started by corporations, I think, weren't they? | 0:44:28 | 0:44:31 | |
And they came and murdered your husband and stole your land? | 0:44:31 | 0:44:35 | |
Some of them have admitted to the crimes they committed. | 0:44:36 | 0:44:40 | |
Why did they do it? For the land, that's why. | 0:44:40 | 0:44:43 | |
'During the worst years of fighting here, corporations | 0:44:59 | 0:45:02 | |
'and businesses often connived with or even established violent | 0:45:02 | 0:45:06 | |
'paramilitary groups to protect their interests | 0:45:06 | 0:45:09 | |
'and even kill their enemies and claim more land. | 0:45:09 | 0:45:11 | |
Some of the banana corporations who've been operating here | 0:45:13 | 0:45:16 | |
have got questions to answer about their role in | 0:45:16 | 0:45:20 | |
what's afflicted this country. | 0:45:20 | 0:45:23 | |
One of the big banana multi-nationals, Chiquita, | 0:45:23 | 0:45:26 | |
they were fined and given a multimillion pound fine just | 0:45:26 | 0:45:30 | |
a few years ago because they confessed | 0:45:30 | 0:45:32 | |
they had been supporting, funding paramilitary groups here that | 0:45:32 | 0:45:37 | |
were targeting banana farm workers and trade unionists. | 0:45:37 | 0:45:41 | |
'Multi-national corporations were involved | 0:45:44 | 0:45:46 | |
'and implicated in the half a century of violence in Colombia | 0:45:46 | 0:45:50 | |
'during which hundreds of thousands of people died. | 0:45:50 | 0:45:53 | |
'I continued my journey along the coast to the Port of Santa Marta, | 0:46:00 | 0:46:05 | |
'from where many of Colombia's bananas are shipped abroad. | 0:46:05 | 0:46:08 | |
'Although the Colombian government has had great success | 0:46:10 | 0:46:12 | |
'tackling the cocaine trade, it's still a major problem. | 0:46:12 | 0:46:16 | |
'Drug gangs will hide cocaine they're smuggling to Europe | 0:46:19 | 0:46:22 | |
'and the United States inside banana shipments. | 0:46:22 | 0:46:25 | |
'I met Colonel Romel Bernate, | 0:46:32 | 0:46:34 | |
'who's in charge of trying to stop the smugglers.' | 0:46:34 | 0:46:37 | |
So we've got an inspection going on here. | 0:46:38 | 0:46:40 | |
TRANSLATION: We take them all down and then search through each crate. | 0:46:44 | 0:46:47 | |
We found cocaine in with the bananas and in the shipping containers. | 0:46:49 | 0:46:53 | |
What's the biggest find you've made, then, in recent years? | 0:46:55 | 0:46:59 | |
In February 2014, we found two tonnes of cocaine. | 0:47:01 | 0:47:05 | |
Two tonnes of cocaine? | 0:47:06 | 0:47:08 | |
How much is that worth when it gets to Europe? | 0:47:08 | 0:47:11 | |
88 to 90 million. | 0:47:12 | 0:47:14 | |
We've found drugs inside the wall | 0:47:21 | 0:47:24 | |
and we've found drugs inside this section. | 0:47:24 | 0:47:26 | |
They devise ways of removing this bit and modifying the containers. | 0:47:28 | 0:47:32 | |
And they try to hide them inside the refrigeration unit. | 0:47:34 | 0:47:38 | |
The bananas need to be kept cool on the journey, which is | 0:47:39 | 0:47:42 | |
why we have to open up all of this. | 0:47:42 | 0:47:45 | |
It must be such an enormous challenge for you because, | 0:47:45 | 0:47:48 | |
presumably, if a gang could fill just this area here with cocaine | 0:47:48 | 0:47:54 | |
and get that past your search teams they make an enormous sum of money. | 0:47:54 | 0:48:00 | |
A lot of money. | 0:48:02 | 0:48:03 | |
A single kilo in Europe can fetch up to 59,000. | 0:48:03 | 0:48:08 | |
That says it all really, doesn't it? | 0:48:09 | 0:48:11 | |
I mean, that is the point. | 0:48:11 | 0:48:13 | |
'Thanks to better policing and detection, the cultivation | 0:48:17 | 0:48:20 | |
'of cocaine in Colombia has more than halved since its peak. | 0:48:20 | 0:48:24 | |
'Much of the illegal production has moved away from the Caribbean | 0:48:24 | 0:48:27 | |
'region to Peru and Bolivia. | 0:48:27 | 0:48:30 | |
'Colombia's violent reputation continues to put off foreign | 0:48:37 | 0:48:40 | |
'visitors, but it's a stunning country. | 0:48:40 | 0:48:43 | |
'I headed along the coast towards the last destination on this | 0:48:44 | 0:48:47 | |
'part of my journey around the Caribbean. | 0:48:47 | 0:48:50 | |
'My route was taking me in to the Sierra Nevada Mountains, | 0:48:51 | 0:48:54 | |
'the highest coastal mountain range in the world. | 0:48:54 | 0:48:57 | |
'It's home to an ancient people.' | 0:48:58 | 0:49:00 | |
We're heading in to the land of the Kogi people. | 0:49:01 | 0:49:04 | |
Now, the Kogi are the most intact surviving civilisation | 0:49:07 | 0:49:11 | |
from the time before Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas. | 0:49:11 | 0:49:15 | |
'When the Spanish invaders first arrived here, most of the indigenous | 0:49:17 | 0:49:21 | |
'people of the Americas were wiped out, often by the gun or the sword. | 0:49:21 | 0:49:26 | |
'But tens of millions died from diseases they had no immunity to. | 0:49:26 | 0:49:30 | |
'But the Kogi retreated high in to the Sierra Nevada, which is | 0:49:30 | 0:49:33 | |
'where they've remained.' | 0:49:33 | 0:49:35 | |
Look at this. | 0:49:37 | 0:49:39 | |
We're arriving on the edge of a community, a village, it looks like. | 0:49:39 | 0:49:42 | |
'There are roughly 20,000 Kogi people in these mountains. | 0:49:44 | 0:49:48 | |
'They hunt and gather, | 0:49:48 | 0:49:49 | |
'but they're also a settled community, | 0:49:49 | 0:49:51 | |
'who have farmed here for centuries. | 0:49:51 | 0:49:53 | |
'Unlike many indigenous communities around the world, the Kogi | 0:49:55 | 0:49:59 | |
'are choosing to remain largely isolated from the modern world. | 0:49:59 | 0:50:02 | |
'There wasn't even a football T-shirt in sight. | 0:50:02 | 0:50:05 | |
'It's extremely rare for the Kogi to allow a TV crew into their world. | 0:50:06 | 0:50:11 | |
'They let me visit for a simple reason - to show us | 0:50:11 | 0:50:14 | |
'how they live and to warn that their way of life | 0:50:14 | 0:50:16 | |
'is now being threatened.' | 0:50:16 | 0:50:18 | |
This is right up there with the most incredible places I've ever been. | 0:50:19 | 0:50:23 | |
'The Kogi wanted to show me what was at stake, so they took me into | 0:50:24 | 0:50:27 | |
'their back garden - the pristine forests of the Sierra Nevada. | 0:50:27 | 0:50:32 | |
'These misty mountains are home to extraordinary bio-diversity, | 0:50:35 | 0:50:40 | |
'including the most important concentration of threatened | 0:50:40 | 0:50:43 | |
'mammals, amphibians and birds on Earth.' | 0:50:43 | 0:50:46 | |
TRANSLATION: We don't damage the hills, the caves or the trees, | 0:50:51 | 0:50:55 | |
because they give us life. | 0:50:55 | 0:50:56 | |
These are the laws that Mother Nature has given us. | 0:51:00 | 0:51:02 | |
'The Kogi believe the Sierra Nevada is the heart of the world.' | 0:51:09 | 0:51:13 | |
Look at this! | 0:51:15 | 0:51:16 | |
Absolutely spectacular. | 0:51:20 | 0:51:22 | |
OK. Ooh. | 0:51:28 | 0:51:31 | |
So it turns out that the village we were in is more of a gathering | 0:51:44 | 0:51:49 | |
place for farmers to assemble, farmers from the community. | 0:51:49 | 0:51:54 | |
So each of the people we've met has a little farm like this, | 0:51:54 | 0:51:59 | |
but they go to meet outsiders down in the village. | 0:51:59 | 0:52:03 | |
This is a job made for me. OK. | 0:52:22 | 0:52:24 | |
Which one? | 0:52:28 | 0:52:30 | |
Ah. | 0:52:31 | 0:52:33 | |
Ooh. Flipping heck. | 0:52:35 | 0:52:38 | |
Have you little ones seen tall foreigners before? | 0:52:38 | 0:52:40 | |
Lemonade, Kogi style. | 0:52:46 | 0:52:48 | |
Wow, it smells incredible. | 0:52:52 | 0:52:54 | |
Mmm. | 0:52:57 | 0:52:58 | |
I don't think it's alcoholic. | 0:53:00 | 0:53:02 | |
-Any alcohol? -No. | 0:53:02 | 0:53:04 | |
I know I mustn't drink it all, but it is very good. | 0:53:07 | 0:53:09 | |
So this is home tonight, the village school. | 0:53:21 | 0:53:25 | |
We've got inflatable mattresses inside and mosquito nets to keep | 0:53:25 | 0:53:31 | |
out the buzzing mozzies, but also we're going to tuck them underneath | 0:53:31 | 0:53:36 | |
the mattresses and hopefully that will keep out the snakes, as well. | 0:53:36 | 0:53:40 | |
THUNDER RUMBLES | 0:53:48 | 0:53:51 | |
COCKEREL CROWS | 0:53:54 | 0:53:57 | |
It wasn't a horrific night but things - | 0:54:07 | 0:54:10 | |
COCKEREL CROWS | 0:54:10 | 0:54:11 | |
cockerels started crowing next to our heads | 0:54:11 | 0:54:16 | |
at about quarter past three. | 0:54:16 | 0:54:18 | |
I hate cockerels. | 0:54:18 | 0:54:20 | |
'The Kogi call the rest of us their younger brother, | 0:54:23 | 0:54:26 | |
'and they believe we're threatening their very existence. | 0:54:26 | 0:54:29 | |
'I went to talk with Mamo Luntana, a Kogi elder.' | 0:54:30 | 0:54:33 | |
What I want to know is how younger brother expects us | 0:54:36 | 0:54:39 | |
all to live when you come from the other side of the world | 0:54:39 | 0:54:43 | |
and destroy Mother Earth so that multi-national companies can profit. | 0:54:43 | 0:54:47 | |
Younger brother has caused so much damage. | 0:54:50 | 0:54:53 | |
River levels have fallen, the rains don't come when they should. | 0:54:53 | 0:54:56 | |
Crop seasons are changing. | 0:54:56 | 0:54:59 | |
Only when younger brother stops can this life carry on as normal. | 0:54:59 | 0:55:03 | |
'We're used to being warned about our changing climate by scientists, | 0:55:08 | 0:55:12 | |
'but it's shocking to hear this first-hand | 0:55:12 | 0:55:14 | |
'evidence of profound change already happening from the leader | 0:55:14 | 0:55:18 | |
'of a remote people in a remote part of the planet.' | 0:55:18 | 0:55:22 | |
'And this is something I'm hearing more | 0:55:22 | 0:55:24 | |
'and more of on my travels around the world.' | 0:55:24 | 0:55:26 | |
I'm nearly at the end of my journey, | 0:55:28 | 0:55:30 | |
but we're heading back down to the coast to the sea. | 0:55:30 | 0:55:33 | |
It's not far, well, not that far anyway as the crow flies. | 0:55:33 | 0:55:37 | |
It takes a bit of time on these roads. Ah-ah. | 0:55:37 | 0:55:39 | |
And we've got a vehicle behind that's bringing | 0:55:41 | 0:55:43 | |
some of the Kogi with us. | 0:55:43 | 0:55:44 | |
'The Kogi have a series of sacred sites around the area | 0:55:46 | 0:55:49 | |
'connected by what they call the black line. | 0:55:49 | 0:55:52 | |
'It's part of their belief system. | 0:55:52 | 0:55:54 | |
'Many of their sacred sites have been damaged by development. | 0:55:54 | 0:55:58 | |
'They've now launched a desperate campaign to protect what's left. | 0:55:58 | 0:56:02 | |
'They took me down to the beach and back to the Caribbean Sea.' | 0:56:02 | 0:56:06 | |
When you see this power station what do you think as a people? | 0:56:09 | 0:56:15 | |
You live in the mountains, | 0:56:36 | 0:56:38 | |
but I sense the sea is very important to you. | 0:56:38 | 0:56:40 | |
'The Kogi believe our natural world is being destroyed by us.' | 0:57:06 | 0:57:10 | |
Do you think younger brother will ever listen? | 0:57:11 | 0:57:13 | |
'There's a desperation in their plea. | 0:57:34 | 0:57:36 | |
'The Kogi have noticed our world is changing, not by measuring it, | 0:57:38 | 0:57:43 | |
'but by living in it.' | 0:57:43 | 0:57:44 | |
It's been an incredible journey, | 0:57:55 | 0:57:59 | |
from the beaches of Barbados to the mountains of the Sierra Nevada. | 0:57:59 | 0:58:04 | |
But this is the end of this leg. | 0:58:05 | 0:58:09 | |
On the next leg, my final leg, | 0:58:09 | 0:58:11 | |
I'll be travelling up the Caribbean coast of Central America | 0:58:11 | 0:58:14 | |
and finishing my journey around the Caribbean Sea in Jamaica. | 0:58:14 | 0:58:17 | |
'Next time - I join a research mission on one of the world's | 0:58:19 | 0:58:22 | |
'greatest reefs and experience the coral kingdom at night. | 0:58:22 | 0:58:25 | |
'And I go on patrol in the most dangerous city on the planet.' | 0:58:27 | 0:58:30 | |
I think he's got a bullet wound on his chest. look at that. | 0:58:30 | 0:58:34 | |
'Before finishing my Caribbean journey on the beautiful | 0:58:34 | 0:58:36 | |
'beaches of Jamaica.' | 0:58:36 | 0:58:38 |