Whereas the recession that followed resulted in numerous instances of corruption or in the bankruptcy of the traditional negotiators, many of them Lebanese, the new actors invested in the sector, kept their financial promises with both planters and exporters and gradually squeezed out the competition. Their healthy financial situation, in the middle of an unprecedented cash-flow crisis, is still a source of amazement, but there is no doubt that they have now achieved an inviolable position in the cocoa trade. Their payments are substantial sources of income for some village communities and they are beginning to get directly involved in exports. Connections with the cocoa networks at the port of Abidjan are also possible, particularly as regards shipping north the sacks of marijuana that arrive in cocoa consignments. Guinean traders apparently play an important part in these networks, which appears to confirm that they have close ties with the networks in C te d'Ivoire.
Marijuana travels inside bales of fresh kola nuts.
These are extremely difficult to check by the authorities because opening them causes the nuts to oxidize and spoiled quickly. Because kola nuts are a highly valued commodity both socially and culturally, few customs and police officers are willing to commit such sacrilege. Cocaine arrives from South America both by sea and air. Furthermore, C te d'Ivoire is one of the few West African countries where the presence of Latin American traffickers has been reported. Thus in 1995, a Colombian and an Argentine were arrested on cocaine trafficking charges.