Guinea-Bissau is the latest West African country to be swept up in a coup contagion that has already hit Guinea, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Though Tuesday’s coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau was unsuccessful, the country continues to reel from political instability, corruption and drug trafficking.
It started as they so often do: with a spatter of gunshots outside a government building. Inside, Guinea Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo was holding a cabinet meeting.
Though Embalo survived the attempted coup – both physically and politically — several security personnel died protecting him and his ministers.
There have been four successful coups in Guinea Bissau since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1974, and many more attempts. The impoverished country of two million is a transit hub for cocaine trafficked from South America to Europe.
Western governments believe members of the country’s military are complicit in the trade.
Though this coup could
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