Myitkyina is a city of 150,000 inhabitants north of Myanmar and is the capital of the Kachin state. This state has been banned from outsiders due to the concurrent conflicts, however it is now safe, although there are still several military checkpoints along the road that is threatening, distrustful and a parsimony typical of a control in the film Great Evasion They do passport control . Today, why there is no conflict, and the city of Myitkyina is not dangerous.
On long-haul buses, more than 18 hours, they give you a kind of Redbull.
Jaume, cute with his Mickey Mouse blanket !!!
The conflicts that live in the country are mainly provoked by the military power that most ethnic groups have erred (and Myanmar has more than 180 recognized ethnic groups) to ensure that the Burmese is the majority ethnic group. So even if it has been declared a democratic country in 2015, the military still has control of this country.
Jaume dressed in his Longi, typical attire of men in Myanmar.
Curiosities that we saw around the city, to drive the motorcycle in the rain and the sun … we love it !!!!!
The excuse is that the democratic government controls the country with the exception of the states in conflict. The military has thus engaged in migration, either in the cultivation of heroin (Myanmar is the second largest exporter of heroin in the world after Afghanistan) or in the extraction of precious minerals, and in this way its control is justified remnant, and the entrance of any annoying scout.
The excuse is that the democratic government controls the country with the exception of the states in conflict. The military has thus engaged in immigration, which is a harvest of precious minerals, and in this way its remaining control is justified, and they veto the entry of any annoying scout.
The state of Kachin has been at war for decades, the struggle involves the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the government, which seeks to expropriate the lands of the locals for various interests: the gold and Jade mines. The northern region is rich in these minerals.
The tactics employed by mine operators are very twisted and cruel, and involve the second interest: opium and heroin. The military battles this region with weapons and drugs, weakening them with their addiction.
For a time the owners of the mines gave the workers of the heroin mines, and after a season, with a high rate of addiction, they began to charge it. In this way they have workers who will never leave their jobs.
The salary they receive is their own heroine, so they are condemned to live at the mercy of unscrupulous people to survive imprisoned in such a hellish destiny. We have not seen it, but they have explained it to us.
Because they can not prick themselves out of fear, there are tents where tails are made, and they provide the intravenous dose with the same needle attached to a tube. An example is the mining town of Hpakan, neighboring Myitkyina, where the shadow of misfortune covers the place. To all this is added that the state borders China, where it has become the leisure and vice center of the neighboring country.
So Myitkyina is an important drug distribution center. Rita, our contact in Myitkyina explained to us that she wanted to be a social worker for a Bhamo, her home town about 100 km away, to work on the drug-addiction issue.
We call ourselves 80% of the families of Bhamo have a member addicted to heroin … What a panorama … of the saddest thing that you have heard on this trip … and everything allowed, or who knows if promoted, by the military that govern the country …
