Colombia, Cocaine and the Lost War by Mads Nissen

A kilo of cocaine base manufactured in an illicit secret laboratory using coca leaves, gasoline and other chemicals.

The coca picking starts at 5am in the morning, and during a working day a person usually collects two sacks of leaves weighing approximately 70 kilos each. For this they'll be paid 24000 Pesos (GBP 6.15), about twice as much as they would receive harvesting coffee. The owner of the land leases it out to another person and it is they who hire the young men to...
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A kilo of cocaine base manufactured in an illicit secret laboratory using coca leaves, gasoline and other chemicals.

The coca picking starts at 5am in the morning, and during a working day a person usually collects two sacks of leaves weighing approximately 70 kilos each. For this they'll be paid 24000 Pesos (GBP 6.15), about twice as much as they would receive harvesting coffee. The owner of the land leases it out to another person and it is they who hire the young men to cultivate and harvest the coca leaves. After the crop is gathered the leaves are moved to a simple laboratory where for every 600 kilos of coca leaf one kilo of cocaine base is produced. This sells for 2.5 million Pesos with the final process which produces cocaine powder happening elsewhere.

Due to its strategic location and the intensive production of coca in the surrounding hills, the remote mountain village of Pueblo Nuevo, located as it is in an area dominated by the FARC (The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), has been badly affected by the armed conflict between the National Army and the FARC guerrilla
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