The Black Hawk helicopter was ready for take off – its rotor blades slicing through the air in the deadening heat of the Colombian Amazon. We ducked low and crammed in alongside the Jungle Commandos – a police special operations unit armed by the Americans and originally trained by Britain's SAS, when it was founded in 1989.
The commandos were heavily armed. The mission was familiar. The weather was clear. But there was tension on board, kicking in with the adrenaline. When you go after any part of the drug trade in Colombia, you have to be ready for trouble.
The commandos often face resistance from criminal groups, and current and former guerrillas who have replaced the cartels of the 1970s and 80s.
We took off, flying over the district of Putumayo - close to the border with Ecuador - part of Colombia's cocaine heartland. The country provides about 70% of the world's supply.
Just ahead two other Black Hawks were leading the way.
Down below us there was dense forest and patches of bright green – the tell-tale sign of coca plant cultivation. The crop now covers an area nearly twice the size of Greater London, and four times the size of New York, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), published in 2024.
This is not simply a story of special forces in action; it is intertwined with the socio-economic challenges faced by local farmers who feel trapped in a cycle of poverty. Many, like a farmer known as 'Javier', turn to coca cultivation as a means of survival.
After landing in a clearing, the commandos swiftly locate a crude cocaine lab, hidden among banana trees. A brief encounter with the workers ends without arrests, highlighting the strategy of targeting higher-level players in the drug trade.
Despite the risks involved, Major Cristhian Cedano Díaz, leading the mission, expresses the necessity of these operations, even as he acknowledges the resilience of drug gangs who can rebuild labs almost immediately.
As the conflict continues, Colombia's Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez insists on the successes of their anti-narcotics operations, criticising external pressures for failing to understand the complexities of drug demand in global markets.
In this ongoing battle, both military and social dimensions are crucial. The contrast between the commandos executing orders and civilians struggling for survival paints a broader picture of a nation at war with itself over drugs.
