# The West Africa cocaine route

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "The West Africa cocaine route," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-west-africa-cocaine-route/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's account of where cocaine transiting Venezuela actually goes: not north to the United States but east to West Africa, onto camels along an old Tuareg track to Morocco, and by boat to Spain. The drugs, he says, are meant for Western Europe — and are not Venezuelan to begin with, but Colombian and Ecuadorian.*

- **Origin:** Colombia and Ecuador, not [Venezuela](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/venezuela-boat-strikes)
- **Route:** Venezuela → West Africa → camel track to Morocco → boat to Spain
- **Destination:** Western Europe
- **Why it matters:** It undercuts the stated basis for [American strikes](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/venezuela-boat-strikes)

**The West Africa cocaine route** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s answer to the claim that Venezuela is flooding the United States with drugs.

*"The drugs that are in Venezuela are not Venezuelan. They come from Colombia and they come from Ecuador, and they're transiting Venezuela on their way to West Africa."*[1]

From there the route turns overland and old: *"where they're then put on camels and taken up this ancient Tuareg dirt path to Morocco, where they're put on boats and sent to Spain."*[1][2]

The conclusion is the point: *"these drugs are meant for Western Europe, not for the United States."*[2]

Kiriakou raises the route as one of three reasons the stated case for American [strikes on boats](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/venezuela-boat-strikes) and pressure on Caracas does not add up — the others being the absence of any economic upside and what he takes to be the real driver, [Chinese refining capacity in the Caribbean](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/venezuelan-heavy-crude-refining).[3][2]

## See also

- [Venezuela Boat Strikes](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/venezuela-boat-strikes)
- [Venezuelan heavy crude and the refining bottleneck](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/venezuelan-heavy-crude-refining)
- [Venezuela regime change (2026)](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/venezuela-regime-change-2026)
- [Fentanyl and China](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fentanyl-and-china)

## Sources

1. 'Always Watch The Naval Movements' - Ex-CIA Officer John Kyr (2025-12-10), at 02:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYzvjRksz9Q&t=156s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-10-mario-nawfal-always-watch-the-naval-movements-ex-cia-offic/
2. 'Always Watch The Naval Movements' - Ex-CIA Officer John Kyr (2025-12-10), at 03:07. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYzvjRksz9Q&t=187s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-10-mario-nawfal-always-watch-the-naval-movements-ex-cia-offic/
3. 'Always Watch The Naval Movements' - Ex-CIA Officer John Kyr (2025-12-10), at 02:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYzvjRksz9Q&t=125s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-10-mario-nawfal-always-watch-the-naval-movements-ex-cia-offic/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-west-africa-cocaine-route/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt