Geography Of Cape Verde

The U.S. Department of State's Consular Information Program provides Consular Information Sheets, Travel Warnings, and Public Announcements. Consular Information Sheets exist for all countries and include information on entry requirements, currency regulations, health conditions, areas of instability, crime and security, political disturbances, and the addresses of the U.S. posts in the country. Travel Warnings are issued when the State Department recommends that Americans avoid travel to a certain country. Public Announcements are issued as a means to disseminate information quickly about terrorist threats and other relatively short-term conditions overseas that pose significant risks to the security of American travelers. Free copies of this information are available by calling the Bureau of Consular Affairs at 202-647-5225 or via the fax-on-demand system: 202-647-3000. Consular Information Sheets and Travel Warnings also are available on the Consular Affairs Int ... [Read More]

US Department Of State Post Report

 Official FunctionsLast Updated:  6/29/2004 8:55 AM Praia's representational activity is somewhat intense for all officers given the small number of Mission personnel to attend a variety of official functions.  Numerous opportunities exist to develop useful contacts and there are a wide range of social activities, including cocktail parties, buffet suppers and dinners, with occasional large Embassy receptions.  Dress for official functions depends on the occasion and ranges from casual wear to suits for men and short fancy dresses for women.   Formal receptions (suit and tie) are often held out-of-doors in one of the two Prainha hotels, the Tropico and Praia Mar. Somewhat formal dinners occur occasionally at the Ambassador's residence or at a restaurant. U.S. Gover ... [Read More]

U.S. Department of State FOIA Electronic Reading Room--Post Reports

1    Quick Jump    AfghanistanAlbaniaAlgeriaAngolaArgentinaArmeniaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbados [Read More]

Guinea-Bissau (01/05)

Guinea-Bissau is a member of the UN and many of its specialized and related agencies. It is a member of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF); African Development Bank (AFDB), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Organization of African Unity (OAU--now the African Union), and permanent Interstate Committee for drought control in the Sahel (CILSS). Guinea-Bissau also is a member of the Group of 77 (G-77), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and World Health Organization (WHO). ... [Read More]

Sao Tome and Principe (04/05)

In 1990, Sao Tome became one of the first African countries to embrace democratic reform, and changes to the constitution--the legalization of opposition political parties--led to elections in 1991 that were nonviolent, free, and transparent. Miguel Trovoada, a former Prime Minister who had been in exile since 1986, returned as an independent candidate and was elected President. Trovoada was re-elected in Sao Tome's second multiparty presidential election in 1996. The Party of Democratic Convergence (PCD) toppled the MLSTP to take a majority of seats in the National Assembly, with the MLSTP becoming an important and vocal minority party. Municipal elections followed in late 1992, in which the MLSTP came back to win a majority of seats on five of seven regional councils. In early legislative elections in October 1994, the MLSTP won a plurality of seats in the Assembly. It regained an outright majority of seats in the November 1998 elections. The Government of Sao Tome fully functions un ... [Read More]

International Narcotics Control Strategy Reports

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY REPORTMARCH 1995BUREAU FOR INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AFFAIRSAFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST 413 Cote d'Ivoire 415 Egypt 417 Ethiopia 419Ghana 421 Israel 424 Kenya 427 Lebanon 429 Morocco 433 Nigeria 435 Senegal 439 Syria 441 Tunisia 445 Other Africa 446 Algeria ... [Read More]

Account Tables
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Policy and Program Developments

Overview for 2004 U.S. Government counternarcotics control achievements in 2004 show that persistence pays. Working with our allies, we significantly cut the size of the Western Hemisphere’s illicit drug crops, conducted successful interdiction operations against drugs bound for the United States, and weakened major drug trafficking organizations. We provided our partners essential training assistance to strengthen their law enforcement and judicial systems, while working with them to reduce their domestic drug consumption. We persuaded a greater number of governments to use extradition laws to deny powerful drug criminals a national safe haven they could once count on. We also fostered closer international cooperation among governments and financial institutions to make difficult for the drug trade to legitimize its enormous profits through complex and sophist ... [Read More]

Policy and Program Developments

Fighting the drug trade is a dominant element in a broader struggle against corruption. Drug organizations possess and wield the ultimate instrument of corruption: money. The drug trade has access to almost unimaginable quantities of it. No commodity is so widely available, so cheap to produce and so easily renewable as illegal drugs. They offer enormous profit margins that allow the drug trade to generate criminal revenues on a scale without historical precedent. For example, assuming an average U.S. retail street price of one hundred dollars a gram, a metric ton of pure cocaine is worth $100 million on the streets of the United States; twice as much if the drug is cut with additives. That same metric ton typically would have cost around $3,000,000 ($3,000 per kilogram) when it left Colombia. Few legitimate businesses can boast of a 30-fold return. At $100 per gram, the approximately 100 metric tons of cocaine that the USG typically seizes each year could theor ... [Read More]