Two Spaniards dead in Cape Verde massacre

THE fairly quiet West African nation of Cape Verde, an island group in the Atlantic close to the mainland and a former Portuguese colony was shocked to learn of a massacre at an army barracks on the main Island of Santiago on April 26.

The bodies of 11 people, eight military and three civilians, including two Spanish technicians were found by police at a barracks protecting a communications hub and immediately questions were being raised as to whether there was an attempted coup to oust the recently elected government, or equally sinisterly whether this was part of a drug feud as the country has become a staging post for the international cocaine trade.

In the event, the government has released a statement saying that this was a personal vendetta undertaken by one of the Cape Verdean soldiers at the barracks and that he has now disappeared, possibly taking weapons with him.

The airport near the capital of Praia was closed for a short period of time, but has now re-opened and holiday flights will continue to operate into this, just one of 10 Islands in the group.

Drugs are becoming a major problem, not due to usage by islanders but because of the fact that some of the islands are being used as staging posts for Latin American drug smugglers and the new government has declared that it will take action to curtail the smuggling by arresting those involved in the trade.