Colombia is one of the most beautiful countries in South America,
and yet one of the most dangerous. Comprising rivers, mountains
and vast jungles, Colombia, has also been home to some of the
most violent Mafias of the twentieth century. Throughout the
1980s and early 1990s vicious drug Mafias known as
'cartels' racked the country with violence, killing anyone who
dared obstruct their drug enterprises. More recently, leftist
guerrilla groups and right wing paramilitary groups have ripped
the country apart, attacking innocent villagers and committing bloody atrocities.

Since the late 1970s, Colombian drug cartels have shipped
thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States. The most
successful and ruthless cartel is situated in the mountainous
city of Medellin. At its centre stood Pablo Escobar, who some
have called the worst terrorist of the twentieth century.

The Medellin cartel used bribery to get what they wanted and when
money failed they turned to violence, gunning down anyone who
obstructed their operation. Their reign of terror went largely
unchecked until 1982, after they assassinated the minister of
justice. Colombia's president, Belisario Betancur, declared a
state of siege and instituted a series of rigorous measures,
including an order of extradition, designed to curb the cartel's
power. The Medellin Cartel responded to this new order by
unleashing an unprecedented wave of terror designed to intimidate
the state into dropping further extradition efforts.

By the late 1980s, they finally yielded to the government but
secured comfortable arrangements for their surrender. Escobar was
jailed in a resort-like compound of his own design and continued
to direct his smuggling operations. When word of his prison
conditions became public, the government decided to move him to a
high security unit. Rather than give up his opulent prison
lifestyle, Escobar fled and lived on the lam for over a year
before he was gunned down by police in 1993.

In the vacuum left by the demise of the Medellin cartel, the Cali
cartel rose briefly to prominence. This smaller cartel used
bribes in place of bullets and maintained a lower profile. Their
downfall came in 1994 when it was revealed they had given the
newly elected president, Ernesto Samper, $6 000 000 in
campaign contributions. Forced to maintain face in light of this
revelation, Samper authorised a crack down on the Cali cartel.

By 1996, both the Medellin and Cali cartels were out of business
yet cocaine continued to flow out of Colombia at an even higher
rate. The larger cartels were replaced by smaller organisations
that kept a lower profile. These cartels continue to operate
today and traffic heroin as well as cocaine. Furthermore they
are aligned with leftist guerrilla groups who protect their crops
and airstrips in exchange for a share of the profit. These
guerillas pose a formidable threat to the government's efforts to
eradicate drugs, leaving many to conclude that it is simply not possible to win the the war on drugs in Colombia.