by Christos Zampounis

Gaumont International Television started with “Narcos” (2015-2018). The deafening success of the series, inspired by the life of Pablo Escobar, prompted the producers to the sequel “Narcos in Mexico” (2018-2021), with a similar reception from Netflix subscribers. Until some bright mind in South Korea said the obvious: “Why don’t we make our own Narcos?” “Yes, but on what grounds?”, I suppose his interlocutors would ask. Watching ‘Narcos Saints’ last weekend I was blown away by the story. I learned about Suriname when Diego Biseswar transferred to P.A.O.K. Then I googled the former Dutch colony of South America. So did a struggling South Korean when a classmate from elementary school, a sailor by profession, informed him that there was a huge business opportunity in the country in question. Who was she? The skates. It would be unfair to reveal the continuation of the plot, which, as is now commonplace in the entertainment industry, is based on a true story. All I can contribute is a piece of information I received the other day from the news. “Cocaine: au Suriname, le “sheriff” contre les trafiquants”, was the title of the “Le Point” article. “Cocaine in Suriname, the “sheriff” against the smugglers”, where the sheriff is the new president of the country, Chan Santokhi, a former police chief, which police in “Narco Saints” are presented as the right hand of the drug lords.

PS Half of the active population of South America’s smallest country lives off drugs.