June 1995
Colombia's rural peasants are caught in a savage drugs war, forced to produce narcotics through economic despair. We investigate this deadly battle, with daring access to major and minor players and exclusive archive footage. Following the capture of the Cali cocaine 'cartel' leader, a retaliation bomb is detonated in Medellin. Removing Cali cartel leaders has done nothing to halt the drug trade. In Cali, 'Pepe', a drug trafficker, makes $4,000 a month while a slum family tells the tragic story of their cocaine-courier father. Focusing on the government's renewed fight against drugs under threat of US sanctions, we document the strong-arm tactics of both the army and guerrilla groups. Bloodstained bodies of 13 peasant growers are lined up at a military base - the army dismisses them as vermin. In the fields of a typical coca campesino, protected by guerrilla units, growers process their haul. Evidence of government fumigation of illicit crops which, in turn, encourages farmers to double their cultivation. The result is massive deforestation. Indigenous Indians have little hope in the escalating feud ravaging Colombia.
Tags: Drugs Wars Columbia Heroin journeyman pictures Poppies Deforestation
