Episode 2 Caribbean with Simon Reeve


Episode 2

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I'm on a journey around the edge of the Caribbean Sea,

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with thousands of beautiful islands,

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and an incredible mainland coast,

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home to millions of extraordinary people.

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This is a vast area spanning a million square miles,

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with a rich and brutal history,

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and some of the most dangerous places on the planet.

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GUNFIRE

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It's one of the most vibrant and exciting regions on Earth.

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It's the Caribbean.

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'I'm travelling right around the Caribbean Sea.

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'This second leg of the journey takes me

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'from the tropical islands of Barbados and St Vincent,

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'then along the coast of South America.

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'On the Caribbean's glorious islands,

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'I eat a pest in paradise...'

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Yes, baby!

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'..and I climb a volcano to meet locals

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'with high hopes for an illicit crop.'

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It's a sort of hidden, semi-secret marijuana valley.

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'I travel through the badlands of Venezuela's Wild West...'

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There was actually a shoot-out

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between smugglers and National Guard.

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'..and in the coastal mountains of Columbia,

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'I meet an ancient people with a powerful message for the world.'

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Do you think younger brother will ever listen?

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'I was just off the coast of the beautiful island of Barbados,

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'at the eastern edge of the Caribbean.

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'With glorious beaches and fabulous villas,

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'it's the Caribbean of the rich and the famous.

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'But they still let me visit.'

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Flipping heck!

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That's what you call super-yachts.

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But think of the upkeep.

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Think of all the cleaning.

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'The island is one of the jewels of the Caribbean,

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'a proper bit of paradise.'

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Goodness me!

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Welcome to Barbados.

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'Barbados is a major fly and flop destination for wealthy sun-seekers.

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'Tourism's the main money-earner here,

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'and has made the 285,000 Bajans

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'among the richest people in the region.

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'But an influx of oligarchs

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'and movie stars buying homes has caused friction.

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'On the best beaches, locals are now almost invisible.

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'Many say they've been pushed out by property developers.

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'I went to meet one man who's holding out

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'against the tide of gentrification.'

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All right. Hello, sir.

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Simon Reeve, BBC.

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-Pleased to meet you.

-Lovely to meet you too, sir.

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Yeah, come right in.

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Neville Ifill lives in a house his grandparents bought.

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DOG BARKS

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You're going to show us the beach. OK, after you.

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Mr Ifill, this is very nice.

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A cool spot.

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Can I ask, do you know how much money your grandma paid

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for this plot of land, for the house originally?

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24?

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..four dollars.

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And was this a less fashionable...

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A cheaper place to buy then?

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Yeah. Yeah.

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In the past, much of this area was swampy mangroves

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and only the poorest folk lived by the beach.

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Now, this is one of the most expensive,

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valuable bits of land on planet Earth.

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Ironically, when slavery ended here black Bajans could only

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afford homes along what's become the Platinum Coast.

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Now, villas are replacing traditional homes.

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Paths giving beach access to all are disappearing.

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Some locals complain they've been purged from the landscape.

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Is that how it feels?

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Have people come to you and said, "Sell us your home"?

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8 million?

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US.

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Why didn't you want to take such a large sum?

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Yeah, everybody always says, "Oh, every man has their price"...

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-Right.

-..but it sounds like you haven't got one.

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You're not selling for anything!

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With crazy sums on offer, it's not surprising many Bajans have

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sold their simple beach houses and moved inland.

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But it was inspiring to see Neville's dogged refusal

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to take the cash.

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Money's not everything, after all.

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So a lot of people might think it's completely mad to

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turn down a multimillion pound offer for what is a fairly

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small patch of land, but if you're in love with

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a piece of paradise like this,

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you can't really put a price on it.

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Look at that!

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'Of course, the seas around the Caribbean

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'offer much more than just a lovely view.

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'Beneath the waves, the coral reef off Barbados

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'is a haven of bio-diversity.

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'Like coral reef around the world, it's critical to life in our oceans.

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'I went to meet Andre Miller, a local marine biologist.'

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Permission to come aboard.

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-Come aboard.

-Andre.

-Simon.

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-Hello. Simon Reeve. Hello.

-Nice to meet you, brother.

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Nice to meet you too. Thank you for having us.

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'We headed out towards some of the most beautiful

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'dive sites on the planet.'

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'Coral reefs cover much less than 1% of the ocean floor,

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'but support more than a quarter of all marine life.

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'They act as nurseries for bigger fish

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'and feeding ground for the larger species,

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'so damage to a reef is a huge threat to life in our oceans.

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'But now, more than three-quarters of the world's reefs are at risk

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'of severe decline, threatened by pollution and our changing climate.

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'Here in the Caribbean there's an additional villain.

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'It's called the lionfish.

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'It's a stunning creature with an array of venomous spines.

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'Lionfish shouldn't be here. Their natural home is the Indo-Pacific.

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'Scientists think they first got here in the ballast tanks of ships

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'or after being released from aquariums.

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'The trouble is, lionfish have a voracious appetite for the

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'young of almost every other fish, and virtually nothing eats them.'

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They have, when grown, no natural predators.

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Every single day, they can eat half their body weight.

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They can clean up a reef and remove all of the natural fish.

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When we dissect these fish we find every species of

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reef fish inside their stomachs.

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Are you really quite worried then about what they're going to do here?

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We are extremely worried.

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If we don't do something now, in a few years

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we might just be diving and looking at lionfish.

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'A few years ago I saw lionfish far to the north in the Bahamas,

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'while I was travelling around the Tropic of Cancer.

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'Since then, their numbers have exploded

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'and they've spread across the Caribbean.

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'They pose such a threat to reefs that Andre and other

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'scientists have decided the only way to stop them is to kill them.'

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'He gave me a bit of training and asked me to help.

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'Conservationists don't enjoy taking life,

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'but as we've introduced lionfish to the Caribbean,

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'many argue it's our responsibility

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'to stop them destroying this fragile eco-system.'

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Good job, first I must say.

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Well, thank you.

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You filled up a container. Good job.

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This is about 15 less lionfish we have to worry about.

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-15 less.

-It's a start.

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Because the more people on shore start eating these,

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then 15 becomes 1,500.

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Eating them?

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Yeah, more and more of our Barbadian people, more of us are eating these.

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'Andre's culling them,

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'but he's also encouraging locals to start eating lionfish.

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'If people get a taste for them, fishermen will hunt them,

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'but it's not easy to find anyone happy to handle the venomous fish.'

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We are going to, first of all, cut those spines off.

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'Lionfish spines are still dangerous even after the fish is dead.'

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That's the business side right there.

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And it is, of course,

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the venom which I think really puts people off the idea of eating them.

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But you don't actually sell lionfish here.

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-No.

-You give it up for free?

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Yeah.

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You give it away for free?

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-Yeah.

-Why?

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People are scared of it.

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People are scared of it.

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People are scared. Once you cut this off, it's a normal fish.

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If we take these to cook them, will you stay and try it?

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-Will you try the meat?

-Oh, no.

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-ANDRE LAUGHS

-Oh, go on!

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No!

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You don't like the idea of it or you've got something better to do?

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'With a bit of careful cutting, the fish was ready for cooking,

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'so we headed over to Oistins, a popular local food market.'

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What happens if you can't get people here eating lionfish

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and control their numbers in some sort of way?

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What will the consequences be?

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The word I would use is "critical".

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We need to do something now, we need to be proactive, we need to act.

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Lionfish has only been in Barbados for two years

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and already it's on every single reef that I have ever dived on.

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We're seeing them everywhere we go.

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Thanks a lot. That's lovely of you.

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Thank you very much. OK.

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Lionfish.

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Lionfish.

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Mm.

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That's really good.

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It's delicious, actually. It's sort of, um,

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buttery.

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Oh, come on, you've got to get more people trying this.

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All the ladies said they're going to try it.

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Go on, try some. Who's going to try it? Come on!

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Tell me what it tastes like?

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Yes, baby.

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It tastes just like snapper.

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It tastes just like snapper. That's all I've been saying.

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Just like snapper.

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I think that's the best thing you could possibly hear.

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And you've got to recommend it to people as well.

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I will.

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-Promise?

-I will.

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-Are you coming back next week?

-Get it on George's menu.

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-You're going to try and get this on George's menu?

-Yeah, I will try.

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That's what we're talking about.

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-Excellent.

-That's it. That's it.

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Congratulations, mate. That's brilliant. Well done. Well done.

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You worked hard there.

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Mm-hm!

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'I continued my journey around the Caribbean Sea,

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'heading to the nearby island of St Vincent.

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'It's part of a chain of islands

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'with a population of around a 100,000,

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'which have only been an independent nation since 1979.'

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So we've managed to get the only trolley

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in St Vincent Airport, luckily.

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Who's this gentleman?

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-Hello.

-Hey.

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-Are you Tari?

-Yes, I'm Tari.

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Hello, Tari. Simon Reeve. Nice to meet you.

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Oh, Tari, yeah.

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We're going to be together for a few days, Tari.

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OK, that's great. I'm looking forward to that.

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'The island is rugged and beautiful,

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'with an active volcano to the north that Tari took me to see.

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'St Vincent was a British colony on and off for more than 200 years.

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'We filled it with slaves and plantations.

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'St Vincent is poorer than Barbados, with average incomes of less

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'than £100 a week, and it gets a lot less tourism.'

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So this sand isn't the traditional golden sand

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that many tourists expect when they're on holiday.

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It's not so fantastic for the tourism industry here,

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but the volcano

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is certainly very good at pumping out nutrients.

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I mean, the soil here is very rich, very fertile.

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'That fertile volcanic soil provides the island with

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'most of its earnings.

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'For decades, bananas were St Vincent's single biggest export,

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'but not any more.'

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Oh...

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So now we start to climb the volcano.

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'But we weren't going up to peer in to a crater.

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'With the help of the volcanic soil,

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'many farmers in this area are turning to a more illicit crop -

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'marijuana.'

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'The US government says St Vincent is the source

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'of the majority of cannabis in the Caribbean

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'and we were heading to the secret farms where it's grown.'

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It's a hell of an effort to get to these plantations.

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We don't know what sort of reception we're going to receive

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when we get there.

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'As in most of the Caribbean,

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'growing or using the drug is illegal here.'

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Somebody's helpfully left a rope here.

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'The US military has backed raids on farms here

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'and the destruction of crops.

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'As I discovered,

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'the marijuana plantations aren't exactly hard to find.'

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Look, I can see a hut just ahead.

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And those bushes there.

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I think we've reached the plantations.

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This is where they're growing marijuana.

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I can see more acres over there.

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There's a shack with more marijuana up there in the distance,

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up here on the hill, down below over there.

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It's quite an extraordinary sight.

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It's a sort of hidden, semi-secret marijuana valley.

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'As we got close to another farm, Tari told us to stay back

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'and keep our camera hidden.'

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There's a farmer just up ahead with a field,

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and we're hoping we can go and speak to him

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but, not surprisingly,

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he's not entirely keen that a TV crew turn up.

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Tari's just going to have a chat with him, try and negotiate.

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-Oh.

-Simon.

-Yeah?

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Let's go, let's go. OK.

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That's Simon.

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Hello, sir. Simon. Very nice to meet you.

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That's Craig with the camera.

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Safe, safe. You're safe, means it's OK.

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'They were a bit camera shy to begin with, but it wasn't long

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'before the farmers produced some weed, and they all began to relax.'

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'Even farmers coming from other fields didn't seem to

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'mind our presence.'

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Are you all right there, sir? Good afternoon to you.

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Good afternoon.

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Completely different to the reaction we would get

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if we tried to go to marijuana plantations in Central America,

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for example, where we would be quite likely to encounter guards

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with assault rifles, and possibly would have been shot

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twice in the head and dumped by the side of the road.

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There's none of that here.

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This is not marijuana being grown by organised crime,

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it's marijuana being grown by farmers.

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'After we'd hung out with them for a while,

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'one of the farmers agreed to talk.'

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Do you make a lot of money from growing marijuana?

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Come on, come on. We want to know whether you're a rich man.

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This is a T-shirt that's seen better days,

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but you might have your Armani suit back at your home.

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When you say "a lot of money" how are you...?

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-How are you defining that?

-Yeah.

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Yeah, fair point, fair point.

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I'm presuming you make a lot more money growing marijuana than

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you do growing bananas?

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-Obviously.

-Right.

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But nobody's bought a yacht or a Bentley?

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The way you're saying that it's as if it's just another crop.

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A green gold.

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It is. It is.

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'There are thought to be up to 3,000 cannabis farmers on the island.

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'Many are hoping their trade in green gold will soon be legal.

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'There's a global trend towards decriminalising the growing

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'and use of marijuana.

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'Farmers here think they're well placed to export to the US

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'and the rest of the world.'

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'It's a key issue across the Caribbean region.'

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If it's legalised you'll be allowed to legally export it

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from St Vincent. You could make a lot of money from that.

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How?

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'Thanks to Bob Marley and reggae,

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'many associate the Caribbean with cannabis, however,

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'it's illegal here and the vast majority of people don't use it.

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'But it's not just local farmers who think

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'legalisation would be a good idea.'

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-Afternoon.

-How are you doing?

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-How are you?

-I'm good.

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We're here to see the Prime Minister. We're from BBC Television.

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'The desire for a change in the law now extends

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'right to the top of the island.'

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Prime Minister.

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Dr Ralph Gonsalves has been St Vincent's Prime Minister since 2001.

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We're happy you're here.

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So this is your official home?

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This is the official residence of the Prime Minister.

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Goodness me. Who have you seen in this room?

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Many, many important people.

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That picture was given to me by Fidel.

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-By Fidel Castro?

-Yes.

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And what a view!

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It's a fantastic view.

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That's not bad, is it?

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'Several countries and more than 20 American states have now

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'decriminalised recreational or medical use of marijuana.

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'Hundreds of American farms are now legally growing cannabis.

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'Dr Gonsalves believes it's time for St Vincent

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'to start competing or the Caribbean could miss out.'

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The current state of the law,

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it ought to be reformed.

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And that is part of the conversation which we are having,

0:20:420:20:45

first in respect of medical marijuana, and also in respect

0:20:450:20:49

of possibly decriminalising for small quantities.

0:20:490:20:54

What you're setting out there is the sort of different levels

0:20:540:20:57

of reduction that could happen or dilution to the current laws.

0:20:570:21:01

-Yes.

-There's allowing marijuana for medical purposes.

0:21:010:21:05

-Yes.

-There's decriminalising use of marijuana,

0:21:050:21:09

-the small levels of use of marijuana.

-Yes.

0:21:090:21:11

And then, of course, there's completely legalising

0:21:110:21:14

marijuana use, production, exportation, etc.

0:21:140:21:18

That would be at the extreme end, wouldn't it?

0:21:180:21:20

Yes, well, what we'll have to...

0:21:200:21:22

Clearly, if we dilly and dally,

0:21:220:21:25

if we procrastinate too long

0:21:250:21:28

you can find that...

0:21:280:21:30

..we are importing...

0:21:320:21:34

..pharmaceutical products with a marijuana base when we,

0:21:360:21:42

in fact, grow it in our own region,

0:21:420:21:46

and we can't make any money from it.

0:21:460:21:49

'The climate in the Caribbean means

0:21:490:21:51

'this is an ideal area to grow marijuana.'

0:21:510:21:54

'Cannabis from St Vincent

0:22:010:22:02

'is said to be among the best quality on the planet.

0:22:020:22:05

'Dr Gonsalves is lobbying neighbours to consider

0:22:050:22:08

'changing the law across the entire region.

0:22:080:22:11

'If marijuana is going to be legalised in much of the world,

0:22:110:22:14

'he wants his farmers to make a killing.'

0:22:140:22:17

'Think of the Caribbean and you think of islands,

0:22:260:22:29

'but my journey was taking me around the Caribbean Sea,

0:22:290:22:32

'and its waters also lap the beaches of South and Central America.

0:22:320:22:36

'My next stop was Venezuela.'

0:22:360:22:39

Ah!

0:22:390:22:40

So we've arrived in Venezuela.

0:22:410:22:43

You might be wondering why I'm here.

0:22:430:22:45

It's not traditionally thought of as being a Caribbean country,

0:22:450:22:47

but it is. And, in fact,

0:22:470:22:50

it's got the longest Caribbean Sea coastline of any nation.

0:22:500:22:55

So we're in the car, we're heading in to Caracas, the capital.

0:23:000:23:04

We've got Virginia, who is going to be guiding us around Venezuela.

0:23:040:23:08

Hi.

0:23:080:23:09

Did you just say "hi" in a sort of shy, camera way?

0:23:090:23:13

Sort of. I'll get better.

0:23:130:23:14

Look at that. You suddenly emerge into the city.

0:23:160:23:19

'Venezuela should be one of the richest countries on Earth.

0:23:210:23:24

'It has the largest proven oil reserves in the world and has

0:23:240:23:27

'earned more than a trillion dollars from oil in the past 20 years.

0:23:270:23:31

'Until a few years ago it was led by the charismatic left-wing

0:23:320:23:35

'firebrand, Hugo Chavez.

0:23:350:23:38

'He'd been elected partly as a reaction against America's

0:23:380:23:41

'meddling in South and Central America.

0:23:410:23:44

'Chavez used some of the oil money to reduce extreme poverty

0:23:440:23:47

'and said he'd create a socialist utopia.

0:23:470:23:49

'There is government funded housing for some,

0:23:510:23:53

'yet because of gobsmacking economic mismanagement

0:23:530:23:56

'one in three people in oil-rich Venezuela are poor.

0:23:560:24:00

'Since Chavez died in 2013, things have gone from bad to worse.

0:24:000:24:05

'Venezuela's now a country in turmoil.'

0:24:050:24:07

We need to be a little bit careful filming out on the street,

0:24:080:24:11

I think I'm right in saying. Don't we, Virginia?

0:24:110:24:13

Yes. The first time I came here, neighbours kept on telling me

0:24:130:24:17

to put my camera away because I was going to be shot from...

0:24:170:24:20

You know, by people from above.

0:24:200:24:21

-Shot?

-Shot.

0:24:210:24:23

Bloody hell.

0:24:230:24:24

'Caracas is one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

0:24:290:24:32

'We were heading into a notorious building called the Tower of David.'

0:24:320:24:36

What's with the motorbikes?

0:24:370:24:39

They're going to drive us

0:24:390:24:42

up to the 7th or 8th floor just to sort of make the hike shorter.

0:24:420:24:45

OK.

0:24:450:24:48

This is a sort of unfinished car park by the look of it,

0:24:570:25:00

multistorey car park.

0:25:000:25:02

And this is where we get out.

0:25:080:25:10

Virginia, what is this place?

0:25:150:25:17

Well, it was originally meant to be a bank,

0:25:170:25:21

one of the leading sort of banking institutions of the country,

0:25:210:25:24

but after it went broke it was abandoned and then taken over by...

0:25:240:25:29

I don't know, close to 200 people that turned it in to their homes.

0:25:290:25:34

So it's an abandoned skyscraper?

0:25:340:25:36

It's a squatters' skyscraper, yes.

0:25:360:25:39

'Driven by poverty and a lack of proper housing,

0:25:390:25:41

'the number of squatters here quickly grew.'

0:25:410:25:44

Oh, my God, look at that!

0:25:480:25:50

'Almost 3,000 people have been living here.

0:25:500:25:53

'Families have raised children in the tower,

0:25:530:25:55

'carrying everything for their flats up by hand.'

0:25:550:25:57

That's astonishing!

0:25:580:26:00

'The tower has had a fearsome reputation.

0:26:000:26:03

'Violent drug and kidnap gangs operated from here.'

0:26:030:26:06

My God, look at this.

0:26:070:26:09

'And there are stories of people being pushed to their deaths

0:26:090:26:11

'tens of storeys below.'

0:26:110:26:13

Imagine bringing children up right next to this.

0:26:180:26:21

I think it shows the level of desperation, really.

0:26:240:26:27

That families have been prepared to do this.

0:26:270:26:29

This is not, by a long stretch, a safe environment

0:26:290:26:34

to raise your youngsters in the sense that, you know,

0:26:340:26:38

they could fall down the stairs,

0:26:380:26:40

they could fall off the edge of the building!

0:26:400:26:42

Look, just over here, they could fall through a gap.

0:26:420:26:46

Look.

0:26:460:26:48

This is not good.

0:26:480:26:49

And yet, for the people who live here

0:26:500:26:53

it was better than life outside.

0:26:530:26:56

Safer here in this shanty town in the sky

0:26:560:27:00

than out there in the city.

0:27:000:27:02

'I found the tower astonishing.

0:27:020:27:04

'In the absence of government help, people got on with organising

0:27:040:27:07

'things themselves, even opening businesses.'

0:27:070:27:09

There's a little shop there.

0:27:090:27:11

'From barbers' shops to nurseries,

0:27:130:27:15

'the tower was like a vertical high street.'

0:27:150:27:17

What's going on here?

0:27:190:27:21

People are making cookie cutters.

0:27:210:27:23

That's a whole production line.

0:27:230:27:25

Making cookie cutters!

0:27:250:27:27

Goodness me.

0:27:270:27:30

'Despite an intermittent supply of electricity and water,

0:27:300:27:33

'there's even industry in the tower.'

0:27:330:27:36

Wow.

0:27:360:27:38

You've got a whole factory going on in here.

0:27:380:27:41

We've interrupted you during lunch. I'm very sorry.

0:27:410:27:44

It looks as though you're doing pretty well.

0:27:530:27:55

How many cookie cutters are you making?

0:27:550:27:57

25,000 a week!

0:28:010:28:02

That's...

0:28:020:28:04

His fingers went... Thumbs went up like that.

0:28:040:28:06

Could you have achieved this if you hadn't been living in the tower?

0:28:060:28:09

Look. Wilmer here has just given us business cards.

0:28:300:28:33

He's such a businessman.

0:28:330:28:34

I think he's thinking about exporting to the European Union.

0:28:340:28:38

We might be able to go in to business together importing

0:28:380:28:41

cookie cutters in to the UK maybe.

0:28:410:28:44

'People are currently being rehoused out of the tower, but residents

0:28:470:28:51

'have taken an enormous pride in the place,

0:28:510:28:53

'creating order out of chaos....

0:28:530:28:55

There's a beauty parlour on this floor.

0:28:550:28:58

'They have committees to keep charge of cleaning and security,

0:29:010:29:04

'a real community.'

0:29:040:29:06

It's truly inspiring that they were able to build not only,

0:29:060:29:09

you know, houses out of bricks, but also build a sort of strong

0:29:090:29:12

community with a strong sense of solidarity among them.

0:29:120:29:16

You know, they really do look other each other's neighbours.

0:29:160:29:19

In a way, this speaks of a more successful

0:29:190:29:21

system of organising than most Venezuelans have outside.

0:29:210:29:26

'There is wealth in this country and in this city,

0:29:290:29:32

'but it's in the hands of just a few.

0:29:320:29:35

'Most people are poor and struggling.

0:29:350:29:38

'Despite Venezuela's oil wealth, there are shortages in the shops

0:29:380:29:42

'and a lack of decent health care.

0:29:420:29:44

'Virginia took me to the

0:29:440:29:46

'Perez de Leon Hospital which helps serve the largest slum in Caracas.'

0:29:460:29:50

Goodness me. It looks like a prison.

0:29:520:29:54

'We met Dr Mariela Formigoni.'

0:29:540:29:56

What's with the sort of prison level of security here?

0:29:580:30:03

Why is that needed?

0:30:030:30:04

'Around 20,000 people are murdered in Venezuela each year.

0:30:300:30:34

'Outside of a war zone,

0:30:340:30:36

'Caracas has the second highest murder rate in the world.

0:30:360:30:39

'It's a symptom of poverty, ineffective policing,

0:30:390:30:42

'and failing government.

0:30:420:30:44

'But dealing with violence is just one of the challenges

0:30:440:30:47

'facing this hospital.

0:30:470:30:48

'The bigger issue here is how to treat patients,

0:30:480:30:51

'despite shortages of doctors and even medicines.'

0:30:510:30:54

How easy is it for you to get basic drugs

0:30:560:31:00

and medication for your children?

0:31:000:31:02

That's a basic painkiller. You can't even get basic painkillers?

0:31:310:31:35

'Of course, it's the poorest here who are suffering the most.'

0:31:480:31:52

I'm slightly blown away,

0:31:560:31:58

because everything we see here we have to see through...

0:31:580:32:02

While at the same time remembering how incredibly rich

0:32:020:32:06

this country is supposed to be.

0:32:060:32:09

This is not the hospital of a wealthy country.

0:32:100:32:13

'It's not just hospitals that are breaking point.

0:32:170:32:20

'There are queues for food, building supplies, even loo paper.

0:32:200:32:23

'It's a consequence of government restrictions on

0:32:250:32:27

'foreign currency which mean businesses don't want to import,

0:32:270:32:31

'and Soviet-era controls on prices that mean shops don't want to sell.

0:32:310:32:35

'The country felt close to collapse.

0:32:360:32:38

'Next day, we left Caracas and headed towards the Colombian border,

0:32:460:32:50

'in Venezuela's Wild West.

0:32:500:32:52

'We were heading in to a tricky area, so we'd swapped hire cars

0:32:530:32:57

'for more discreet local wheels,

0:32:570:33:00

'complete with a shag pile dashboard.'

0:33:000:33:03

We're going to hop out. Honestly, this is quite interesting.

0:33:120:33:15

But he does it right to the top, doesn't he?

0:33:180:33:21

OK, so he's put 68 litres in.

0:33:220:33:23

How much is that costing you?

0:33:230:33:25

It cost 6 Ps to fill up the tank right now,

0:33:270:33:29

so that close to a US dollar.

0:33:290:33:31

-One US dollar?

-To fill up a 60 litre tank, yes.

0:33:310:33:34

'And many well-connected people here can fill a tank even cheaper.'

0:33:360:33:39

What you pay for a litre is what I pay a whole year to fill

0:33:410:33:45

up my tank once or twice a month.

0:33:450:33:47

An entire year?

0:33:490:33:51

Yeah.

0:33:510:33:52

My yearly budget for petrol is what you spend in one litre.

0:33:520:33:56

This is extra, extra, extra bonkers, isn't it?

0:33:560:33:58

'Petrol here is the cheapest in the world

0:34:030:34:06

'and is sold for far less than it costs to produce,

0:34:060:34:08

'thanks to a government subsidy introduced decades ago.'

0:34:080:34:12

'The cost of subsidising fuel is gradually bankrupting

0:34:130:34:17

'the country, but no government has been brave enough

0:34:170:34:19

'to raise prices, even though the subsidy benefits the rich,

0:34:190:34:23

'who have more cars, rather than the poor.'

0:34:230:34:26

Look. There's a nodding donkey just here in this suburban neighbourhood.

0:34:310:34:36

There's a gentleman just over there. Could we just ask him

0:34:410:34:44

how often, does it pump all the time?

0:34:440:34:47

Do you see the benefits from it?

0:34:560:34:58

I don't understand where the money's gone.

0:35:210:35:24

This has been pumping for years.

0:35:240:35:26

Venezuela, it's the biggest...

0:35:260:35:29

One of the biggest oil producers in the world.

0:35:290:35:32

Where does it go? Where does the money go?

0:35:320:35:34

'It's extraordinary. Venezuela and Venezuelans should be rich.

0:35:460:35:51

'It's unclear where the country's oil wealth has gone.

0:35:510:35:54

'Much has been stolen or lost through inefficiency and rampant

0:35:540:35:57

'corruption, and vast sums have been siphoned off when petrol is

0:35:570:36:01

'smuggled across the border to Colombia, where I was headed next.'

0:36:010:36:04

What's going on here?

0:36:060:36:08

Well, basically, the kids are bringing over gas

0:36:080:36:11

and they're going to do a quick refill for this guy.

0:36:110:36:14

'Because of Venezuelan subsidies, petrol costs a hundred times

0:36:140:36:18

'more across the border in Colombia,

0:36:180:36:20

'so profits for smuggling are huge.

0:36:200:36:23

'There are supposed to be controls and restrictions on petrol sales

0:36:230:36:26

'near the border, but we saw countless drivers filling

0:36:260:36:29

'huge tanks they would take to Colombia and sell.

0:36:290:36:32

'Our route to the border was a smugglers' highway.'

0:36:350:36:38

Look, they're turning off.

0:36:410:36:43

They're just going to go down...

0:36:430:36:45

Well, a little track down to the side...

0:36:450:36:47

..which probably means there's a checkpoint just up ahead.

0:36:510:36:54

Yeah, I can even see it!

0:36:540:36:56

'We went through numerous checkpoints

0:36:560:36:58

'on the way to the border,

0:36:580:37:00

'but they were clearly not much of a deterrent.'

0:37:000:37:02

They've obviously just gone round the checkpoint to get away

0:37:060:37:11

with whatever it is they're smuggling.

0:37:110:37:13

'Guns, drugs and food, as well as petrol, are smuggled here.

0:37:130:37:17

'Huge profits are at stake

0:37:170:37:19

'and the border region has become extremely dangerous.'

0:37:190:37:21

Oh, it's, like, an army convoy.

0:37:210:37:23

It was a contingent of the National Guard.

0:37:240:37:27

I just heard there was actually a violent confrontation yesterday,

0:37:270:37:30

and a shoot-out between smugglers and the National Guard.

0:37:300:37:36

'Gangs, the police and politicians are all said

0:37:360:37:38

'to be involved with the smuggling.

0:37:380:37:40

'As we got closer to the border, it seemed everyone was at it.'

0:37:400:37:43

And all those there!

0:37:430:37:45

Amazing! We're just off the main road away from the checkpoint

0:37:500:37:53

and this is all completely illegal here.

0:37:530:37:56

It's like a square mile of black market illegal madness.

0:38:000:38:04

Everybody is trading fuel here.

0:38:050:38:07

'It's been officially estimated that roughly £30 million worth

0:38:090:38:12

'of fuel is smuggled out of Venezuela every single week.

0:38:120:38:17

'But the government here has been a bit hopeless at preventing

0:38:170:38:20

'the national coffers being bled dry.'

0:38:200:38:22

We were spotted by one of the guys, so we can't do a drive around again.

0:38:250:38:28

OK, the locks just went down, is that because he's worried for us?

0:38:280:38:31

Yes. It might get a bit aggressive.

0:38:310:38:34

We were spotted as foreigners or as TV people?

0:38:340:38:38

TV people.

0:38:380:38:40

OK, not good.

0:38:400:38:41

'The fuel subsidy here costs more than government spending

0:38:440:38:48

'on education and health care combined.

0:38:480:38:50

'As we headed towards the border, our driver admitted

0:38:500:38:53

'he was also a smuggler,

0:38:530:38:54

'and even he was angry and worried about the state of the country.'

0:38:540:38:57

So how often will you do a run across?

0:38:590:39:03

TRANSLATION: Once or twice a day.

0:39:030:39:05

And how much money can a person make with a car like this?

0:39:050:39:10

It's very lucrative for doing almost nothing.

0:39:140:39:17

And it's easy money.

0:39:170:39:19

Normally, I can sit here driving for two or three hours

0:39:240:39:28

and I can make as much as a professional in this country

0:39:280:39:31

makes in a month.

0:39:310:39:33

Where do you think this country will be in five years' time?

0:39:350:39:38

Every day, I think about what this country used to be like

0:39:420:39:45

and what it's like now.

0:39:450:39:47

From top to bottom, everything is bad.

0:39:470:39:50

It's difficult to see a future for Venezuela.

0:39:510:39:54

We're getting close to the border with Colombia now

0:39:590:40:02

and I'm coming to the conclusion that Venezuela is

0:40:020:40:05

one of the worst-managed countries that I have ever visited.

0:40:050:40:09

I've been in poorer places and I've been in war-torn countries,

0:40:090:40:13

but I don't think I've been in one which has got quite this much

0:40:130:40:16

natural wealth, and yet is being so badly run.

0:40:160:40:20

What a completely lawless situation.

0:40:240:40:26

Right at the V that marks the end of Venezuela.

0:40:290:40:32

'It's a beautiful country with so much going for it.

0:40:320:40:36

'But, to be honest, the muppetry of the government here meant

0:40:360:40:39

'I wasn't sad to move on.'

0:40:390:40:41

Here we go, Colombian immigration right here.

0:40:410:40:44

There's a cop here smoking a fag.

0:40:470:40:48

Virginia, thank you so much. May we have a little...?

0:40:580:41:01

Of course. Good luck.

0:41:010:41:03

'Until recently, Colombia was being torn apart by decades

0:41:170:41:20

'of violence, fuelled by the multibillion pound cocaine trade.

0:41:200:41:24

'But over the last ten years, life has really improved here,

0:41:270:41:30

'and after Venezuela, Colombia felt like a bit of a relief.'

0:41:300:41:33

Is she selling coffee? Can we get one?

0:41:350:41:37

Tres. Tres.

0:41:410:41:45

"Cafe for the gringo," she said.

0:41:460:41:48

Look at this. This is a motorway service station in Colombia.

0:41:500:41:53

-Gracias.

-Gracias.

0:41:570:41:59

'We headed west, along Colombia's Caribbean coast,

0:42:040:42:07

'towards an area officially called "the Banana Zone".'

0:42:070:42:10

Look at all of them!

0:42:150:42:16

'Bananas are one of the five most important crops in the world.'

0:42:180:42:22

We've arrived.

0:42:240:42:25

'In the UK we eat an astonishing 5 billion bananas a year.

0:42:250:42:29

'A quarter come from Colombia.'

0:42:290:42:32

Mathilde, what's with the blue bags?

0:42:320:42:34

TRANSLATION: There's a pesticide which protects the bananas,

0:42:360:42:39

so we can produce perfect bananas.

0:42:390:42:41

'Around 80% of people in this part of Colombia are involved

0:42:430:42:46

'in the banana trade.'

0:42:460:42:48

OK, thank you, Mathilde. A very sharp knife.

0:42:480:42:50

'Time for me to join them.'

0:42:500:42:51

-Take the leaves off first?

-Yeah.

0:42:540:42:56

Sorry.

0:42:570:42:58

'Much of the industry here has signed up to the Fair Trade scheme.'

0:42:580:43:02

Bueno?

0:43:020:43:03

Now hang on, that's got the bananas on.

0:43:040:43:06

'It ensures workers receive better wages

0:43:060:43:08

'and improved working conditions.'

0:43:080:43:10

Ah!

0:43:110:43:13

Bloody hell, that's heavy!

0:43:130:43:15

This bloke's a train engine. Bueno.

0:43:230:43:25

'Some of the farm workers here, including Mathilde Castro,

0:43:310:43:35

'used to be farmers themselves.

0:43:350:43:38

'They were part of a co-operative that owned

0:43:380:43:40

'and ran its own banana plantation.

0:43:400:43:43

'But they were sucked in to the violence of Colombia's civil

0:43:430:43:46

'conflict, when guerrilla groups fought

0:43:460:43:49

'against the national government

0:43:490:43:51

'and the country descended into near-chaos.

0:43:510:43:54

'The conflict tore their lives apart.'

0:43:540:43:56

TRANSLATION: Some men came and killed my partner and his two brothers.

0:44:040:44:08

We were threatened and told if we stayed we'd be killed,

0:44:100:44:14

so we had to leave.

0:44:140:44:15

Who did this?

0:44:180:44:19

The paramilitaries.

0:44:210:44:22

So these are the right-wing paramilitaries who were often

0:44:240:44:28

started by corporations, I think, weren't they?

0:44:280:44:31

And they came and murdered your husband and stole your land?

0:44:310:44:35

Some of them have admitted to the crimes they committed.

0:44:360:44:40

Why did they do it? For the land, that's why.

0:44:400:44:43

'During the worst years of fighting here, corporations

0:44:590:45:02

'and businesses often connived with or even established violent

0:45:020:45:06

'paramilitary groups to protect their interests

0:45:060:45:09

'and even kill their enemies and claim more land.

0:45:090:45:11

Some of the banana corporations who've been operating here

0:45:130:45:16

have got questions to answer about their role in

0:45:160:45:20

what's afflicted this country.

0:45:200:45:23

One of the big banana multi-nationals, Chiquita,

0:45:230:45:26

they were fined and given a multimillion pound fine just

0:45:260:45:30

a few years ago because they confessed

0:45:300:45:32

they had been supporting, funding paramilitary groups here that

0:45:320:45:37

were targeting banana farm workers and trade unionists.

0:45:370:45:41

'Multi-national corporations were involved

0:45:440:45:46

'and implicated in the half a century of violence in Colombia

0:45:460:45:50

'during which hundreds of thousands of people died.

0:45:500:45:53

'I continued my journey along the coast to the Port of Santa Marta,

0:46:000:46:05

'from where many of Colombia's bananas are shipped abroad.

0:46:050:46:08

'Although the Colombian government has had great success

0:46:100:46:12

'tackling the cocaine trade, it's still a major problem.

0:46:120:46:16

'Drug gangs will hide cocaine they're smuggling to Europe

0:46:190:46:22

'and the United States inside banana shipments.

0:46:220:46:25

'I met Colonel Romel Bernate,

0:46:320:46:34

'who's in charge of trying to stop the smugglers.'

0:46:340:46:37

So we've got an inspection going on here.

0:46:380:46:40

TRANSLATION: We take them all down and then search through each crate.

0:46:440:46:47

We found cocaine in with the bananas and in the shipping containers.

0:46:490:46:53

What's the biggest find you've made, then, in recent years?

0:46:550:46:59

In February 2014, we found two tonnes of cocaine.

0:47:010:47:05

Two tonnes of cocaine?

0:47:060:47:08

How much is that worth when it gets to Europe?

0:47:080:47:11

88 to 90 million.

0:47:120:47:14

We've found drugs inside the wall

0:47:210:47:24

and we've found drugs inside this section.

0:47:240:47:26

They devise ways of removing this bit and modifying the containers.

0:47:280:47:32

And they try to hide them inside the refrigeration unit.

0:47:340:47:38

The bananas need to be kept cool on the journey, which is

0:47:390:47:42

why we have to open up all of this.

0:47:420:47:45

It must be such an enormous challenge for you because,

0:47:450:47:48

presumably, if a gang could fill just this area here with cocaine

0:47:480:47:54

and get that past your search teams they make an enormous sum of money.

0:47:540:48:00

A lot of money.

0:48:020:48:03

A single kilo in Europe can fetch up to 59,000.

0:48:030:48:08

That says it all really, doesn't it?

0:48:090:48:11

I mean, that is the point.

0:48:110:48:13

'Thanks to better policing and detection, the cultivation

0:48:170:48:20

'of cocaine in Colombia has more than halved since its peak.

0:48:200:48:24

'Much of the illegal production has moved away from the Caribbean

0:48:240:48:27

'region to Peru and Bolivia.

0:48:270:48:30

'Colombia's violent reputation continues to put off foreign

0:48:370:48:40

'visitors, but it's a stunning country.

0:48:400:48:43

'I headed along the coast towards the last destination on this

0:48:440:48:47

'part of my journey around the Caribbean.

0:48:470:48:50

'My route was taking me in to the Sierra Nevada Mountains,

0:48:510:48:54

'the highest coastal mountain range in the world.

0:48:540:48:57

'It's home to an ancient people.'

0:48:580:49:00

We're heading in to the land of the Kogi people.

0:49:010:49:04

Now, the Kogi are the most intact surviving civilisation

0:49:070:49:11

from the time before Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas.

0:49:110:49:15

'When the Spanish invaders first arrived here, most of the indigenous

0:49:170:49:21

'people of the Americas were wiped out, often by the gun or the sword.

0:49:210:49:26

'But tens of millions died from diseases they had no immunity to.

0:49:260:49:30

'But the Kogi retreated high in to the Sierra Nevada, which is

0:49:300:49:33

'where they've remained.'

0:49:330:49:35

Look at this.

0:49:370:49:39

We're arriving on the edge of a community, a village, it looks like.

0:49:390:49:42

'There are roughly 20,000 Kogi people in these mountains.

0:49:440:49:48

'They hunt and gather,

0:49:480:49:49

'but they're also a settled community,

0:49:490:49:51

'who have farmed here for centuries.

0:49:510:49:53

'Unlike many indigenous communities around the world, the Kogi

0:49:550:49:59

'are choosing to remain largely isolated from the modern world.

0:49:590:50:02

'There wasn't even a football T-shirt in sight.

0:50:020:50:05

'It's extremely rare for the Kogi to allow a TV crew into their world.

0:50:060:50:11

'They let me visit for a simple reason - to show us

0:50:110:50:14

'how they live and to warn that their way of life

0:50:140:50:16

'is now being threatened.'

0:50:160:50:18

This is right up there with the most incredible places I've ever been.

0:50:190:50:23

'The Kogi wanted to show me what was at stake, so they took me into

0:50:240:50:27

'their back garden - the pristine forests of the Sierra Nevada.

0:50:270:50:32

'These misty mountains are home to extraordinary bio-diversity,

0:50:350:50:40

'including the most important concentration of threatened

0:50:400:50:43

'mammals, amphibians and birds on Earth.'

0:50:430:50:46

TRANSLATION: We don't damage the hills, the caves or the trees,

0:50:510:50:55

because they give us life.

0:50:550:50:56

These are the laws that Mother Nature has given us.

0:51:000:51:02

'The Kogi believe the Sierra Nevada is the heart of the world.'

0:51:090:51:13

Look at this!

0:51:150:51:16

Absolutely spectacular.

0:51:200:51:22

OK. Ooh.

0:51:280:51:31

So it turns out that the village we were in is more of a gathering

0:51:440:51:49

place for farmers to assemble, farmers from the community.

0:51:490:51:54

So each of the people we've met has a little farm like this,

0:51:540:51:59

but they go to meet outsiders down in the village.

0:51:590:52:03

This is a job made for me. OK.

0:52:220:52:24

Which one?

0:52:280:52:30

Ah.

0:52:310:52:33

Ooh. Flipping heck.

0:52:350:52:38

Have you little ones seen tall foreigners before?

0:52:380:52:40

Lemonade, Kogi style.

0:52:460:52:48

Wow, it smells incredible.

0:52:520:52:54

Mmm.

0:52:570:52:58

I don't think it's alcoholic.

0:53:000:53:02

-Any alcohol?

-No.

0:53:020:53:04

I know I mustn't drink it all, but it is very good.

0:53:070:53:09

So this is home tonight, the village school.

0:53:210:53:25

We've got inflatable mattresses inside and mosquito nets to keep

0:53:250:53:31

out the buzzing mozzies, but also we're going to tuck them underneath

0:53:310:53:36

the mattresses and hopefully that will keep out the snakes, as well.

0:53:360:53:40

THUNDER RUMBLES

0:53:480:53:51

COCKEREL CROWS

0:53:540:53:57

It wasn't a horrific night but things -

0:54:070:54:10

COCKEREL CROWS

0:54:100:54:11

cockerels started crowing next to our heads

0:54:110:54:16

at about quarter past three.

0:54:160:54:18

I hate cockerels.

0:54:180:54:20

'The Kogi call the rest of us their younger brother,

0:54:230:54:26

'and they believe we're threatening their very existence.

0:54:260:54:29

'I went to talk with Mamo Luntana, a Kogi elder.'

0:54:300:54:33

What I want to know is how younger brother expects us

0:54:360:54:39

all to live when you come from the other side of the world

0:54:390:54:43

and destroy Mother Earth so that multi-national companies can profit.

0:54:430:54:47

Younger brother has caused so much damage.

0:54:500:54:53

River levels have fallen, the rains don't come when they should.

0:54:530:54:56

Crop seasons are changing.

0:54:560:54:59

Only when younger brother stops can this life carry on as normal.

0:54:590:55:03

'We're used to being warned about our changing climate by scientists,

0:55:080:55:12

'but it's shocking to hear this first-hand

0:55:120:55:14

'evidence of profound change already happening from the leader

0:55:140:55:18

'of a remote people in a remote part of the planet.'

0:55:180:55:22

'And this is something I'm hearing more

0:55:220:55:24

'and more of on my travels around the world.'

0:55:240:55:26

I'm nearly at the end of my journey,

0:55:280:55:30

but we're heading back down to the coast to the sea.

0:55:300:55:33

It's not far, well, not that far anyway as the crow flies.

0:55:330:55:37

It takes a bit of time on these roads. Ah-ah.

0:55:370:55:39

And we've got a vehicle behind that's bringing

0:55:410:55:43

some of the Kogi with us.

0:55:430:55:44

'The Kogi have a series of sacred sites around the area

0:55:460:55:49

'connected by what they call the black line.

0:55:490:55:52

'It's part of their belief system.

0:55:520:55:54

'Many of their sacred sites have been damaged by development.

0:55:540:55:58

'They've now launched a desperate campaign to protect what's left.

0:55:580:56:02

'They took me down to the beach and back to the Caribbean Sea.'

0:56:020:56:06

When you see this power station what do you think as a people?

0:56:090:56:15

You live in the mountains,

0:56:360:56:38

but I sense the sea is very important to you.

0:56:380:56:40

'The Kogi believe our natural world is being destroyed by us.'

0:57:060:57:10

Do you think younger brother will ever listen?

0:57:110:57:13

'There's a desperation in their plea.

0:57:340:57:36

'The Kogi have noticed our world is changing, not by measuring it,

0:57:380:57:43

'but by living in it.'

0:57:430:57:44

It's been an incredible journey,

0:57:550:57:59

from the beaches of Barbados to the mountains of the Sierra Nevada.

0:57:590:58:04

But this is the end of this leg.

0:58:050:58:09

On the next leg, my final leg,

0:58:090:58:11

I'll be travelling up the Caribbean coast of Central America

0:58:110:58:14

and finishing my journey around the Caribbean Sea in Jamaica.

0:58:140:58:17

'Next time - I join a research mission on one of the world's

0:58:190:58:22

'greatest reefs and experience the coral kingdom at night.

0:58:220:58:25

'And I go on patrol in the most dangerous city on the planet.'

0:58:270:58:30

I think he's got a bullet wound on his chest. look at that.

0:58:300:58:34

'Before finishing my Caribbean journey on the beautiful

0:58:340:58:36

'beaches of Jamaica.'

0:58:360:58:38

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