There’s a shadow hanging over this town: it’s rumoured to have a problem with gangs whose women drug unsuspecting victims before robbing them – the so-called Black Widow scam. Scam City s2e9: Bogota, National Geographic 2014
‘With an overdose they can live you or leave you with a mental illness.’ ibid. cab-driver’s advice
1,200 Scopolamine crimes were reported to police in 2012. It’s believed this is only the tip of the iceberg. ibid.
Colombia: a land of untold beauty and diverse cultures … the number one producer and exporter of cocaine. Despite 30 years of US-led war on drugs and the fall of the flamboyant drug lord Pablo Escobar, the traffic seems healthier than ever. Plan Colombia: Cashing in on the Drug War Failure, 2002
‘What is provided is very little.’ ibid. farmer
‘What right do the United States have to do anything?’ ibid. Noam Chomsky
The US government has made aerial spraying by US contractors the focus of its anti-drug policy in Colombia. ibid.
‘This [spraying cocktail] is going to blow around … There seem to be more skin problems in people who have been exposed to the spray.’ ibid. expert
Monsanto Round Up Ultra … these deadly chemicals are running into the war supply of the entire Amazon basin. ibid.
The production of cocaine has actually doubled over the last ten years. ibid.
Colombia evolves into an industrial society. ibid.
Despite millions of dollars spent and the training of over 10,000 Colombian officers in counter-guerrilla tactics, the Colombian military never manages to prevail. ibid.
Narco-traffickers become players in the conflict. ibid.
The School of the Americas has been training over 60,000 officers from all over Latin America with one clear mission … ‘a huge plague of oppression across the continent’ [Chomsky] ibid.
Medellin Colombia 1982: Pablo Escobar is the head of the most powerful, violent and feared organisation in the world. The Medellin Cartel is raking in over $2 billion a month. Those Escobar can’t bribe he kills. Drug Lords s1e5: Pablo Escobar, Netflix 2018
They referred to the Bahamas as their trampoline into the US. ibid.
By the early 1980s Medellin, Colombia, is the cocaine capital of the world. ibid.
He sends his Sicarios out to corrupt a nation. ibid.
One of the bloodiest decades in Colombian history. ibid.
Escobar’s reign of terror continues to escalate. ibid.
Escobar only gets five years in jail. And he has even more demands … Pablo even chooses his guards and inmates. ibid.
Escobar escapes capture but his time is running out. ibid.
December 1993 Cali, home of the new kings of Coke … The most powerful cartel in Colombia supplying 90% of the country’s biggest export: cocaine. Drug Lords s1e6: The Cali Cartel
‘The biggest criminals in the world.’ ibid.
‘Chepe used to send 20 kilograms in suitcases carried by passengers.’ ibid. insider
By the mid-1980s the Rodriguez brothers are shipping industrial quantities of coke to the US. ibid.
These are the gentlemen of Cali with friends in high places. ibid.
Escobar’s Medellin cartel in the north; and the Cali cartel in the south. ibid.
Operation Phoenix, Miguel’ and Giberto’s [Cali cartel] elaborate plot to kill Escobar, fails. ibid.
‘They were the only game in town.’ ibid. DEA agent in Colombia
Nowadays the US government can listen to anything you say … In Colombia in 1989 it wasn’t that easy. First off, there was no internet. Narcos s1e1 Descenso, Netflix 2015-2017
I’m Steve Murphy. Drug enforcement agent. And as you can see I am deeply embedded in Colombia. ibid.
Don’t call me a bad guy just yet. ibid.
Sometimes bad guys do good things. ibid.
Pablo Escobar: a man who changed my life for ever. Pablo was making a killing in the smuggling business. ibid.
‘One day I’m going to be president of the Republic of Colombia.’ ibid. Escobar
Easiest money he ever made. ibid.
He was a family man to the end. ibid.
Pretty soon cocaine was hidden in every legitimate Colombia export. ibid.
Before long we were seizing sixty kilos a day … They let us have sixty so they could bring in six hundred. Pablo’s coke flooded in. ibid.
And with the money came the violence. ibid.
This mugshot was gonna cause him a lot of grief down the line. ibid.
Turns out Cockroach was a real cockroach. ibid.
The problem was no longer the demand. It was the supply. Narcos s1e2: The Sword of Simon Bolivar
Pablo and his partners built superlabs the size of small cities. ibid.
Whatever they did they couldn’t hide that much money. It kept coming in. ibid.
The Narcos had me on file the very first day. ibid.
What we didn’t know was that we were witnessing the formation of the famed Medellin cartel. ibid.
M-19 didn’t stand a chance. ibid.
This was a war that would shake an entire country to its foundations. And in the carnage Miami would be shaking as well. ibid.
They went after them so hard [Mexico], every single Narco in the world got the message that the DEA is off limits. Narcos s1e3: The Men of Always
‘I don’t want to be good, I’m going to be great.’ ibid. Pablo to prostitute
And just like that an honest man blinked. ibid.
Escobar: You are meeting up with politicians, not with gangsters. ibid.
Aren’t they the same thing, boss? ibid.
He placed himself on the side of the poor and the weak and the fight against the oligarchs. ibid.
And when you get too close to the sun your dreams may melt away. ibid.
The one thing Narcos feared most: extradition. Narcos s1e4: The Palace in Flames
Escobar will not go lightly. He will make Colombia bleed. ibid. Colombian rozzer
It was the good guys who had to hide their faces behind masks. ibid.
A cocaine empire that was bringing in $60 million a day. ibid.
Financed by Escobar, the M-19 guerrillas stormed the Palace of Justice and occupied the supreme court; they took over 100 hostages … The entire case against him turned to ash. ibid.
Sleeping with a communist? That would be downright un-American. Narcos s1e5: There Will Be a Future, Javier to Steve
When Noriega realised he could make even more money shipping his drugs by siding with communists he switched teams. So we invaded Panama. ibid. commentary
Pablo was right: who would have the balls to fill Galan’s shoes? ibid.
It’s silver or lead. ibid. Pablo
Pablo’s path was total war. He established a bounty system for killing and over 200 were slaughtered. Narcos s1e6: Explosivos
This was the first major successful major operation by the Search Block, a signal to the country and to the world that the fight against the Narcos had moved to a new level. ibid.
In his unsuccessful attempt to assassinate presidential candidate Cesar Trujillo, Pablo Escobar murdered 107 innocent people. Narcos s1e7: You Will Cry Tears of Blood
There had been violence between Medellin and Cali before but right now the war on two fronts was not something Pablo could afford. ibid.
We can end this violence with dignity. ibid. Pablo’s lawyer to Colombian president
I have to stop this madness. ibid. president