Colombia: Coca Wars
11 minutes, 2001
Ref: 32

Colombia's new President, Alvaro Uribe, has declared a national state of emergency in response to five days of violence following his inauguration. Colombia is synonymous with cocaine, drug cartels and killing. But few realize that a civil war has been raging there for the past 38 years. Right-wing paramilitaries, whose primary goal is to eliminate the left-wing guerrilla forces, have free reign across much of the country, terrorizing peasants and forcing them from their homes for allegedly sympathizing with the guerrillas. Their stories rarely reach the outside world - until now.