EYEWITNESS: INSIDE A COCAINE FACTORY

To many Britons and Americans, Colombia is synonymous with cocaine
production but few have seen inside a cocaine factory.

Convict-turned-writer Norman Parker went on a long and risky journey
to find out more and returned with this story:

My Colombian journalist contact, Edgar, told me it was a story that
had never been done before.

To go deep into the Colombian jungle, find a working "cocina" or
cocaine kitchen, photograph it and interview the workers.

Having persuaded a magazine to fund the trip, off I went to
Bogota.

From the Colombian capital, I flew north to meet Edgar in the jungle
town of Barrancabermeja.

Fighting In The Area

From here on, all travelling would be done by motorised
canoe.

Edgar warned nothing was guaranteed, as all parties to the civil war -
the Colombian army, the left-wing rebel groups FARC and ELN, and the
right-wing paramilitaries - were fighting in the area.

At first glance the vast mountainous interior of Colombia seems hardly
worth fighting over. But the land is fertile and the crop of choice,
coca leaf, is highly profitable.

A two-hour trip up the Magdalena river took us to El Bagre, a
FARC-controlled village.

We sat about for a day until going on to the ELN-controlled San
Lorenzo.

On the way we passed through an eerie, deserted village called Cuatro
Bocas, where 10 villagers had been massacred a week earlier by the
paramilitaries.

We had seen abundant evidence that both FARC and ELN taxed the cocaine
trade, but the ELN denied any involvement.

'High Degree Of Collusion'

On the morning of the third day, we set out for the cocina, up the
very road which 600 paramilitaries had travelled only hours earlier to
attack the ELN.

We passed through the same army-controlled checkpoint on the outskirts
of San Pablo, which pointed to a high degree of collusion and
co-operation between the Colombian military and the paramilitary irregulars.

A jolting, three-hour drive took us to the cocina, or rather to the
farm where it was located.

The farmer was dirt poor, living in wood and straw
huts.

A worker uses a garden strimmer to cut up the coca leaf While the
cocaine trade is highly lucrative, it is clear the producers see
little of the profit.

The farmer told us the only way he could feed his family was to grow
coca. No other crop was economically viable.

'Tax Paid To Paramilitaries'

He employed 30 raspachinos (coca leaf pickers), working 11 hours a
day, six days a week and paid each man UKP 8 per day with full board
and lodging.

He paid a tax of UKP 18 per hectare to the paramilitaries who
controlled the area and a further UKP 60 on each kilo of coca base
produced, which he then sold to the paramiltaries for UKP 600 per kilo.

Everything he needed had to be brought in by canoe.

The cocina itself was a long shed without walls, its roof held up by
six beams.

On the floor beneath was spread out two large, black plastic
sheets.

On the first, a worker was chopping a pile of coca leaves into smaller
pieces with a strimmer.

On the second, more workers trod cement powder into the chopped leaves
and mixed them with petrol in large black drums. The resulting coca
base, a viscous white fluid, is then drained off and treated.

This cocina turned out 15 kilos of coca base per week.

It is bought up by middlemen from Cali and Medellin, who distill it
into crystal form before shipping it abroad.

Back at our hotel in San Pablo, four plain-clothed paramilitaries
questioned us about our activities.

As soon as they left we got on the next boat to Barranca.

'Few Scruples About Drugs'

So who did we see benefiting from the cocaine trade?
Everyone.

The guerrillas, constantly under attack from the Colombian army and
the paramilitaries, tax the trade to fund their activities.

The paramilitaries also play a major role in collecting and
distributing the coca base, yet they work closely with the Colombian
military.

This is deeply ironic considering that the US is currently giving the
Colombian Government $1.6bn under Plan Colombia, which is designed to
halt the cocaine trade.