Democracy Dies in Darkness

On a paradise island in the Pacific, meth and HIV epidemics rage

International criminal syndicates have been using Fiji as a transshipment point for drugs originating in Southeast Asia and Latin America.

14 min
A sex worker waits outside the Survival Advocacy Network, a safe haven for the LGBTQ+ and sex worker community in Fiji that in recent years has also served injecting drug users and provides free HIV testing. (Photos by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

SUVA, Fiji — The methamphetamine drop-offs to a squatter settlement here followed a routine.

Once a week, according to residents, a black Dodge truck with tinted windows pulled up to a tent on the edge of the community, a dense maze of tiny shacks connected by muddy paths, slick from the persistent summer rain. A man stepped out, swapped drugs for cash with his local contact, and drove off. Dealers repacked the white crystals into tiny zip-top bags, no bigger than a child’s pinkie, before doling them out for about $22 each.

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