Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller (2020) s01e06 Episode Script
Cocaine
1
MAN: All this wonderful
Miami that you see,
all started out with drug money.
This town was built
on coke money,
every bit of it.
MARIANA: If you did cocaine
in America in the 80s,
it almost certainly
passed through Miami.
MAN (over TV): Miami
is cocaine city.
The main cocaine transit
point between the American
mainland and the Bahamas.
MARIANA: Millions of dollars'
worth were smuggled in
by this man alone.
MAN: I got paid 500,000 a trip.
I wouldn't do it for any less.
MARIANA: Rival gangs battled
for their share of the drug profits,
making Miami the murder
capital of America,
and inspiring my favorite
TV show as a kid.
This was my first glimpse
into the cocaine underworld.
I was fascinated by the money,
the violence,
the larger than life characters.
And, of course,
Crockett's fashion choices.
I had no idea that
decades later,
the Miami smuggling
scene would be hot again.
MAN (over loudspeaker):
Hands up! Hands up!
Put your hands up!
MARIANA: And that I'd be the
one chasing the traffickers.
MAN: They're starting to
bring the old routes back.
With connections all through
Central and South America.
MARIANA: This is a story about
one of the most infamous and
intractable smuggling
routes on the planet.
(singing in native language)
MAN: Police!
MARIANA: After 40 years of the
multibillion-dollar US war on drugs,
how is cocaine as cheap
and plentiful as ever?
MAN: Cops don't
catch anybody man.
People tell.
MARIANA: Let's go.
Let's go, we were spotted.
And who are the people putting
their lives on the line to
deliver Americans their
preferred party drug?
MARIANA: I'm heading on
a 3,000-mile journey,
from green leaves to
white lines, to find out.
♪
It's the police checkpoint.
EDISON: Okay.
MARIANA: When your job is
reporting on black markets,
a few checkpoints
are to be expected.
MARIANA: But nothing stirs the
butterflies in the belly quite
like the last checkpoint,
the one before you step into
ungoverned territory.
MARIANA: As we clear
the checkpoint,
we enter a lawless region that
produces roughly one-fifth
of the world's cocaine,
the VRAEM.
CEVICHE: Excelente.
MARIANA: My guide to this
world is my friend Ceviche,
who lived in the
VRAEM for many years.
CEVICHE: Si. MARIANA: They're
drying out coca leaves right there.
MARIANA: Locals here in the
VRAEM have been growing coca
for thousands of years.
But this isn't your
typical farming community.
MARIANA: Throughout the valley,
vigilante militias like this are
the de facto law of the land.
These coca farmers turned
soldiers are trained to defend
their communities
and their crop.
MAN: Uh-hmm.
MARIANA: Coca leaves, eso. Okay.
They're saying I should just
chew it, not swallow it.
It tastes like a leaf. Hmm.
Here in Peru, it's actually legal
to grow and sell coca leaves.
It only becomes illegal if
you're processing those
leaves into cocaine.
Originally, the militias formed
in response to the Shining Path,
a ruthless communist group
that rose to power in the 1980s.
Its members have waged a
decades long civil war to
overthrow the
Peruvian government.
MARIANA: The Shining Path
controls key smuggling routes
and has been known to attack
communities to expand its territory.
That's how the group makes
its money, extorting growers,
makers and smugglers for
protection or safe passage.
MARIANA: The politics in
the VRAEM are complicated.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: To fund their fight
against the Shining Path,
and to support their families,
these farmers sell their coca
harvest and they never ask
questions about the
buyer's intended use.
(man speaking native language)
MARIANA: But the truth is
nearly 94% of coca leaves in
the VRAEM go to
drug traffickers.
Here, the drug trade is
controlled by small family
clans who operate
independently and all of them
are suspicious of outsiders.
When locals see a
bunch of gringos,
they think we're
American law enforcement.
That's why I'm leaning on
Ceviche to help me get access
to the next step in the process.
MARIANA: Turns out that one of
Ceviche's former passengers is
still active in
the cocaine trade.
He's part of a family clan
that buys coca leaves and
processes them
into cocaine paste.
MARIANA: His contact agreed to
meet but gave us very little information,
we were told to take the
one road out of town
and wait for further
instructions.
So, we're driving for an hour up
the mountain in these dirt roads,
we're headed to meet the dueño,
the owner of a drug operation
who's given us the green light
to film his lab in the jungle.
All I know is that I've been
promised to see the place
where cocaine begins its
3,000-mile journey to the US.
But for now, everyone is just
nervous about getting there.
We've been told that every
time a car approaches or we go
through these towns that have
lights that we should hide our
faces because they don't
want to see, you know,
any gringos in this area
because it would raise suspicions.
This area is quite dangerous.
Even though we've gotten
permission to see this cocaine lab,
to get there we have to
pass through land controlled
by other clans and militias
who have no idea who we are
or what we're up to.
MARIANA: So, I'm
a little startled,
when in the middle
of a deserted road.
Uh, in the pitch dark.
A man suddenly appears
out of the darkness.
I'm trying to figure
out who this guy is.
MARIANA: The chemist, the
key figure in the whole operation,
was standing on a mountain road,
in the pitch dark.
Sometimes you can't
make this stuff up.
So, they're checking the
area to make sure that
everything is safe.
MARIANA: Okay, shut
off all lights.
And here it is, the
entry into the jungle.
MARIANA: He's saying that the
town that's close by and if they see us,
it can create problems
to all of us.
These labs are the economic
engines for the local communities,
without them,
there would be little
demand for coca leaves.
That's why villagers
are so protective.
We're basically a threat
to their livelihood.
The chemist has made me
promise that I won't
reveal the location.
I told him it's not a problem.
I can barely see my own feet.
I can't see (bleep),
I can't see (bleep).
Wow. This is it.
It's right here.
Wow.
♪
MARIANA: I'm not gonna lie,
it's always a rush getting
access to these
clandestine worlds.
The cocaine pit, the starting
point for such a storied,
black market trade,
ranks up there.
But as the reporter
high wears off,
I realize that the whole
process boils down to brute
labor and simple chemistry.
(speaking native language)
So, they've been doing
this for three days.
And now this is the final step,
which they mix it with salt.
It takes 400 kilos, almost 900
pounds of coca leaves to make
one kilo of cocaine.
They're soaked in water,
acid, and bleach,
which draws the drugs
out of the leaves.
And now it's ready to be moved
on to smaller containers
to the lab.
♪
Here in this makeshift lab,
they'll start the
purification process.
MAN: Uh-huh.
MARIANA: Researchers
discovered how to extract
cocaine from coca leaves
over 150 years ago.
And Americans got their first
taste of the drug in Coca-Cola
back in the 19th Century.
Before it was banned by the
federal government in 1914.
It's a really,
really intense smell.
MAN: Yes.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: To purify cocaine in
the middle of the Peruvian jungle,
they figured out how
to extract the drug using
simple household chemicals
and a whole lot of gasoline.
In this lab, each batch
requires 70 gallons.
MARIANA: Ammonia, bleach,
cement, lime, gasoline.
With each toxic additive,
the drug becomes more
and more concentrated.
So, what they're doing is that
they're removing the top of it,
which is the fuel.
And the bottom is a clear
sort of liquid and
that's where the drugs remain.
You see it's pretty dark.
And that's all the gasoline.
And the clear part underneath.
MARIANA: So, yeah, that's
the drugs right there.
So, they call that clear liquid,
they call it the soup.
MARIANA: No, thanks.
He asked me if I
wanted to try it.
I said no.
Ooh, check this out.
This is amazing.
It's crazy to think that only
weeks from now this jungle
soup will disappear up
some American's nostrils.
Now it's time for
the final step.
A splash of ammonia
to solidify the drugs.
MARIANA: Okay, they
have to speed it,
we have to speed it up, guys.
With so many livelihoods
depending on this lab,
Ceviche's friend is taking a
massive risk giving us a peek
behind the curtain.
So when the chemist
disappears for a moment,
I begin to worry.
MARIANA: Hey guys, we have
to go right now. MAN: Okay.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Let's go, let's go.
Okay, so we were spotted
by somebody up on the road.
They said we have to get to
the car and get out of here.
Okay. We have to go fast.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: No, no, no.
(speaking native language)
Are they all inside?
Thankfully, we escaped
without incident,
but the drug's long journey
north is only just beginning.
It's a new day in the VRAEM.
Last night's coca paste
has hardened into bricks.
The next challenge?
Getting them out of the valley.
The easiest way
would be by plane.
But the Peruvian Military now
has permission to shoot down
suspected drug flights.
Driving the coke
out would also work,
but the roads here are
littered with police checkpoints.
So that's given way to the
preferred method of transport,
in a backpack.
The same guys who ran the lab
ask us to meet them outside of
town at a trail head that
leads up into the Andes.
Copy that, we're, uh,
we're following the convoy,
we're right behind
the other two cars.
(speaking native language)
Okay. We're here.
Okay. Take my headlamp out.
They're known as "mochileros",
the Spanish word for backpacker.
Their backpacks are filled
with bricks and powder.
They are the sherpas
of the cocaine world.
I was surprised to learn that
the chemist from last night
is also a mochilero.
MARIANA: The elevation,
more than 6,000 feet
and I can feel it.
Just started like 15 minutes
ago and I'm already exhausted.
And I'm not carrying
ten kilos on my back.
MARIANA: Rival clans,
corrupt cops, thieves of all kinds,
it's the wild west
out on the trails.
I asked what would happen
if they get attacked.
♪
♪
MARIANA: I'm following the
"cocaine highway" from the
mountains of Peru to
the nightclubs of Miami.
It's 4:00 AM and I'm embedded
with a group of young men
risking their lives to hike 30
kilos out of the VRAEM Valley.
So, this is the main
stuff they take.
A can of tuna. Saltines.
They have a plastic that they use
to cover themselves in case it rains.
And then alcohol, which they
say helps with altitude sickness
because they're going
high up the mountain.
So, this here is worth $900.
Each kilo, in the US
once it's processed,
it's worth $25,000.
MARIANA: That means these
guys are carrying about
$750,000 worth of raw cocaine.
MARIANA: Peruvian cocaine paste.
Some of the most
sought-after in the world.
The same bricks that Escobar
would fly into Colombia to
process into powder.
MARIANA: Gracias.
It looks so unassuming.
It's hard to imagine the trail
of violence left in its wake.
(speaking native language)
Okay. They're getting
anxious about leaving.
Watching these young men pack,
I'm feeling conflicted.
I know what they're
doing is illegal,
and that the drug they're
carrying has caused millions
of families around
the world to suffer.
But after spending
two days with them,
I can't help but be
concerned for their safety.
They're just kids, only a few
years older than my own son.
It seems so unfair that the
lack of options in the VRAEM
means they have to risk their
lives just so Americans can
get their cheap high.
So, they said they're gonna
walk for 12 more hours,
and then, uh, and then
rest and then continue for
a day and a half more.
MARIANA: Okay.
We make plans to meet up at
the end of their journey,
but I'm worried.
Anything could
happen on the trail.
MARIANA: As the mochileros
rise out of the valley,
the price of cocaine
rises as well.
Theirs is just the first leg of
a global distribution network.
If the mochileros
survive the hike,
they will sell to a new owner,
who will smuggle the drugs
by car into Lima and
then head north.
Each time the drugs change
hands the price jumps.
Smugglers must account for the
real cost of transport and the risk.
Plus, each will take their
share of the profits.
Eventually, the cocaine passes
through Ecuador to Colombia,
my next stop.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: At first glance,
Turbo looks like any other
Caribbean fishing town.
But just beneath the surface
is another reality.
MARIANA: Oliver Schmeig is a
German photojournalist who's
spent decades in Colombia
documenting the drug trade.
MARIANA: What are the chances
we could see one of these
boats or even ride
in one of them?
MARIANA: Oliver works his
contacts and directs me to
a dock on the edge of town,
which I'm not allowed
to show on camera.
But just as he promised,
I'm met by two cocaine
smugglers in a boat.
(engine starts)
MARIANA: Today, the
boats are empty of cargo.
The smugglers agree to
talk about their work,
but they won't let
me near the product.
The multimillion-dollar
payloads they move are too
valuable to risk showing them
off to foreign journalists.
MARIANA: Smugglers use these
low-tech fiberglass boats to
outmaneuver the Colombian
Military and its ally,
the US Coast Guard.
Radar waves, which
easily detect metals,
can only get an extremely
weak signal off fiberglass,
making boats like this
practically invisible.
MARIANA: Okay.
There's a boat over there.
MARIANA: Okay. It's a fisherman.
But they were saying before
that if anything, uh,
if any boat approaches,
that they, uh,
immediately take off their masks
and we put the cameras down.
And we just say we're
doing a show about tourism.
MARIANA: Okay. They're
not feeling very comfortable.
MARIANA: Okay. They're going
to take off their masks.
♪
MARIANA: I'm in a boat off
the coast of Colombia with
two very nervous
cocaine smugglers.
They were spooked by some
passing fisherman so they're
taking me into deeper waters
where they say it's safer to speak.
So, he was saying that
all these fishermen,
everyone here basically,
works for the clan.
So, if they see
him talking to us,
they'll go inform and that
could be dangerous for them.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: The Clan del Golfo
is Colombia's largest and most
powerful drug cartel,
made up of mostly hardened
paramilitary fighters
and wanted war criminals.
How violent exactly
is the Clan del Golfo?
MARIANA: Wow.
I know that getting access to
cartel leadership is a bigger ask.
For days, it didn't look like it
was going to happen and then,
out of nowhere,
we got the green light.
We just made the first right,
guys.
We're all together, let's go.
In the car ahead of us is one
of the Clan del Golfo's top
commanders in this region.
We have no idea where we're going
but we're following the commander.
So, there are a couple of, uh.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Soldiers right up here.
And there's a cop up there, too?
Okay, what the (bleep)?
(speaking native language)
MAN: No. MARIANA: Okay.
But with the
military everywhere,
we're all a bit on edge.
OLIVER: Let's try to get
in very quickly here.
MARIANA: Okay.
(speaking native language)
OLIVER: Please.
MARIANA: This is it.
It's a little ranch house.
Okay.
One, two. Can you hear me?
One, two, three, four, five.
MAN: Yes, ma'am. Okay.
MAN: Okay.
MARIANA: Even though the
commander and his bodyguard trust Oliver,
this is the first time we've
met and they're skeptical.
I show him some photos of my
past work and hope that will
convince him that I'm
not law enforcement.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: They eventually
agree to the interview.
Okay.
MARIANA: In the
traditional business world,
he might be considered
a VP of operations.
He's helping to
manage a complicated,
global criminal network
out of a farmhouse in the
Colombian countryside.
MARIANA: That's a weekly
shipment of cocaine worth
$25 million on the
streets of Miami.
MARIANA: The Clan del Golfo's
top commander, Otoniel,
is Colombia's public
enemy number one,
with a $5-million
bounty on his head.
He's notorious for
assassinating government
officials and ordering the
detonation of a grenade in the
middle of a night club.
(shouting)
He demands complete
loyalty from his soldiers.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: As we talk,
I begin to realize that,
even when you're near the
top of the cartel food chain,
safety is no guarantee.
MARIANA: In the last few years,
cocaine trafficking in Colombia
has reached record levels.
From what these men tell me,
this rise has been
anything but glamorous.
Yet the country is the
distribution center for the
global cocaine trade.
From here, roughly half the
supply is shipped to Europe,
Africa, Asia, and Australia.
The other half will end
up in the United States.
That's if smugglers
can evade these guys.
(radio chatter)
MAN: Six yards.
MAN: We just spotted a
northbound vessel heading
from the South in a known
drug trafficking area.
Usually with a vessel that,
that size, over 40 feet,
has cabins, spaces that
you could actually hide
large amount of narcotics.
We're gonna board a vessel that
is suspected of narcotics smuggling.
You're going to
encounter a master.
He may or may not be armed.
Watch out for each other, do
your job, gain compliance,
however, means necessary.
MARIANA: In the last five years,
the US Coast Guard has seized
a record amount of cocaine at sea.
MAN: We're here today to
offload 14,200 pounds.
MAN: 11 tons.
MAN: 20 metric tons.
MAN: Of pure uncut cocaine.
MAN: Worth over $190 million.
MAN (over loudspeaker):
Hands up! Hands up!
Put your hands up.
(speaking native language)
(speaking native language)
MAN: The drug trafficking
organizations are creative and
they're always looking for
ways to elude detection.
That could be a go-fast vessel
that could be a low-profile
vessel that can be
a semi-submersible.
(speaking native language)
MAN: That could be a
fully submersible,
that could be legitimate
commercial traffic.
MAN: Get the vessel,
starboard bow.
We're gonna scramble the
boarding team together,
get them on the small boat,
to go over and investigate,
see what's going on.
Just not enough to figure out
what's actually physically going on,
until you put boots on deck.
MARIANA: The most dangerous
part of an officer's job,
when they board what they
suspect is a drug-running boat.
MAN (over radio): Reports now
show that there are packages on deck.
MAN (over radio): All good, go.
MARIANA: Smugglers in this
situation have a difficult choice.
Abandon their cargo and face
the cartel's wrath or try to
outrun the red, white, and blue.
MAN: US Coast Guard,
let me see your hands!
♪
MAN: Uh, without
reaching or touching,
you got any weapons on board?
All right, we're
gonna come on board and, uh,
do an inspection of your vessel,
make sure you guys are in
compliance with all
Federal rules and regulations
for a vessel of this size.
MARIANA: 141 miles from Miami,
the coast guard intercepted a
suspected smuggling boat.
WOMAN (over radio): 40
is 006, 10, two, zero.
MAN: Uh, the more traditional
drug smuggling routes in the
Caribbean are having
an uptick in activity.
You have nonstop boat traffic.
And some of them could
be legitimately fishing,
but also have drugs
hidden on board.
MARIANA: Cocaine accounts for
94% of all narcotics seized at sea.
MAN: After the boarding,
we discovered that the
vessel was a charter for hire
just in a suspicious area.
Everybody on board was
compliant, and it's, you know,
the best outcome you could
have in a situation, uh,
when you're talking
about safety.
MARIANA: No drugs are found.
The coast guard moves on.
Catching drug runners on the
high seas is an elusive game
of cat and mouse.
MAN: We're operating in
an area larger than the
continental United States.
Now imagine you have three or
four police cars patrolling
the continental United States.
That's essentially
what the Coast Guard,
with our ships, is doing.
MAN: The busts out here, it's,
it's just pivotal before those
drugs make it towards the US
and can be dispersed
throughout the different states.
MARIANA: With such a
large area to patrol,
it's impossible
to catch them all.
MAN: In all the efforts,
everyday doing the mission,
we only get 10% of known drugs
that are being moved towards
the United States.
MARIANA: The remaining 90% of
cocaine slips past undetected,
heading to Miami under
the cover of darkness.
40 years after cocaine
built this skyline,
the drug money is
still pouring in.
This convertible is a tribute
to my childhood crushes,
Crockett and Tubbs.
As I cruise towards south
beach to meet a coke dealer,
I'm actually thinking back to
the final episode of Miami Vice,
when they decide to turn
in their badges because they
realize that the war
on drugs is unwinnable.
After 3,000 miles on
the cocaine highway,
I'd be lying if I said I
didn't wonder the same.
Do you have some of the
stuff you sell with you?
MAN: Yeah, I have some here.
MARIANA: You have
some in your pocket?
MAN: Yeah. I brought a
couple bags with me.
Just looks like regular powder,
just a couple bags,
and keep them there, you know.
MARIANA: So it looks
like a cigar case.
MAN: Yeah, for sure.
That's what I keep it in.
You know, it's a little
more inconspicuous.
The way I make most of
my money is, like, $20 bags.
MARIANA: Uh-hmm.
MAN: I come down to South
Beach and I sell a $20 bag for
$40 and just multiply, so.
On a good day, I'll get two
ounces, for about 2,000 bucks.
MARIANA: And if you sell it all,
how much money can you make?
MAN: About 5,000, almost six.
MARIANA: How long does
it take you to sell that?
MAN: That'll be
gone in three days.
MARIANA: So, you can make
$3,000 in three days,
essentially $1,000 a day.
MAN: Yeah. Yeah, about that.
MARIANA: Is it pure
cocaine that you sell? I mean.
MAN: It's all right, yeah.
It'll keep people up for
days at a time, for sure.
South Beach loves it.
In the clubs, everybody,
you know.
South Beach is cocaine.
In this year, this generation,
that's what everybody wants.
Everybody loves to party,
they come to Miami,
they wanna party
in the party city.
That's what it's all about.
MARIANA: It's just
after midnight,
and the dealer agrees to
let me watch him work,
but only if I play by his rules.
So, we can't have our
cameras out there,
the only way he'd, he agreed
for us to film this was just we'd
stay in the car and
we'd film it from here.
How do you go about selling it?
MAN: You just gotta be low key.
You gotta be ahead of
your game, you know,
because people try to set you
up with different stuff, yeah.
You gotta be prepared, for sure.
Sometimes when I deal with
more weight, you know,
I have to bring a pistol
with me, stuff like that,
because people try to rob you.
MARIANA: What kind do you have?
MAN: A .357 Magnum with
a six-inch barrel.
It's one of my favorites.
MARIANA: Have you used it?
MAN: No, I wouldn't
wanna comment on that.
MARIANA: Okay, he just
got a phone call
and he's walking somewhere.
Oh, man, the he just
went in there, somewhere.
MAN: I do mostly everything
right now just with text messages.
I have like a burner phone,
an untraceable phone.
MARIANA: Okay, he's
walking, uh, this way.
So, I'm just gonna check on him,
see what's up.
MARIANA: Right there
inside the pizza place?
MARIANA: You just went into
the bathroom and gave her.
MARIANA: And she gave you
the money, and that was it.
MARIANA: Right.
How many people do you
sell to in a week,
more or less, you think?
MAN: In a week, I'd say,
I mean, 75 people, maybe.
MARIANA: Wow, that's a lot!
MAN: Product sells itself.
MARIANA: Aren't you
afraid of getting caught?
MAN: I mean, now I
am because, yeah,
I have a family and
stuff like that,
but still gotta feed 'em,
you know what I'm saying,
gotta take care of the family,
by any means necessary,
that's all.
It's a small sacrifice, right?
Keep a little bail
money on the side.
Yeah, right, I'm ready,
for whatever happens.
MARIANA: Very few people know
the journey a kilo of cocaine
makes to get to
the United States,
or the hands that it
touches along the way.
But the path it follows from
beginning to end is shaped
by simple economics.
That's as clear on the streets
of Miami as it is on the boats
of Colombia or the
trails of Peru.
Okay, stop. They're here.
Back in the VRAEM, the chemist
and the would-be dentist have
just made their drop.
Another 30 kilos
are headed north.
Captioned by
Cotter Captioning Services.
MAN: All this wonderful
Miami that you see,
all started out with drug money.
This town was built
on coke money,
every bit of it.
MARIANA: If you did cocaine
in America in the 80s,
it almost certainly
passed through Miami.
MAN (over TV): Miami
is cocaine city.
The main cocaine transit
point between the American
mainland and the Bahamas.
MARIANA: Millions of dollars'
worth were smuggled in
by this man alone.
MAN: I got paid 500,000 a trip.
I wouldn't do it for any less.
MARIANA: Rival gangs battled
for their share of the drug profits,
making Miami the murder
capital of America,
and inspiring my favorite
TV show as a kid.
This was my first glimpse
into the cocaine underworld.
I was fascinated by the money,
the violence,
the larger than life characters.
And, of course,
Crockett's fashion choices.
I had no idea that
decades later,
the Miami smuggling
scene would be hot again.
MAN (over loudspeaker):
Hands up! Hands up!
Put your hands up!
MARIANA: And that I'd be the
one chasing the traffickers.
MAN: They're starting to
bring the old routes back.
With connections all through
Central and South America.
MARIANA: This is a story about
one of the most infamous and
intractable smuggling
routes on the planet.
(singing in native language)
MAN: Police!
MARIANA: After 40 years of the
multibillion-dollar US war on drugs,
how is cocaine as cheap
and plentiful as ever?
MAN: Cops don't
catch anybody man.
People tell.
MARIANA: Let's go.
Let's go, we were spotted.
And who are the people putting
their lives on the line to
deliver Americans their
preferred party drug?
MARIANA: I'm heading on
a 3,000-mile journey,
from green leaves to
white lines, to find out.
♪
It's the police checkpoint.
EDISON: Okay.
MARIANA: When your job is
reporting on black markets,
a few checkpoints
are to be expected.
MARIANA: But nothing stirs the
butterflies in the belly quite
like the last checkpoint,
the one before you step into
ungoverned territory.
MARIANA: As we clear
the checkpoint,
we enter a lawless region that
produces roughly one-fifth
of the world's cocaine,
the VRAEM.
CEVICHE: Excelente.
MARIANA: My guide to this
world is my friend Ceviche,
who lived in the
VRAEM for many years.
CEVICHE: Si. MARIANA: They're
drying out coca leaves right there.
MARIANA: Locals here in the
VRAEM have been growing coca
for thousands of years.
But this isn't your
typical farming community.
MARIANA: Throughout the valley,
vigilante militias like this are
the de facto law of the land.
These coca farmers turned
soldiers are trained to defend
their communities
and their crop.
MAN: Uh-hmm.
MARIANA: Coca leaves, eso. Okay.
They're saying I should just
chew it, not swallow it.
It tastes like a leaf. Hmm.
Here in Peru, it's actually legal
to grow and sell coca leaves.
It only becomes illegal if
you're processing those
leaves into cocaine.
Originally, the militias formed
in response to the Shining Path,
a ruthless communist group
that rose to power in the 1980s.
Its members have waged a
decades long civil war to
overthrow the
Peruvian government.
MARIANA: The Shining Path
controls key smuggling routes
and has been known to attack
communities to expand its territory.
That's how the group makes
its money, extorting growers,
makers and smugglers for
protection or safe passage.
MARIANA: The politics in
the VRAEM are complicated.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: To fund their fight
against the Shining Path,
and to support their families,
these farmers sell their coca
harvest and they never ask
questions about the
buyer's intended use.
(man speaking native language)
MARIANA: But the truth is
nearly 94% of coca leaves in
the VRAEM go to
drug traffickers.
Here, the drug trade is
controlled by small family
clans who operate
independently and all of them
are suspicious of outsiders.
When locals see a
bunch of gringos,
they think we're
American law enforcement.
That's why I'm leaning on
Ceviche to help me get access
to the next step in the process.
MARIANA: Turns out that one of
Ceviche's former passengers is
still active in
the cocaine trade.
He's part of a family clan
that buys coca leaves and
processes them
into cocaine paste.
MARIANA: His contact agreed to
meet but gave us very little information,
we were told to take the
one road out of town
and wait for further
instructions.
So, we're driving for an hour up
the mountain in these dirt roads,
we're headed to meet the dueño,
the owner of a drug operation
who's given us the green light
to film his lab in the jungle.
All I know is that I've been
promised to see the place
where cocaine begins its
3,000-mile journey to the US.
But for now, everyone is just
nervous about getting there.
We've been told that every
time a car approaches or we go
through these towns that have
lights that we should hide our
faces because they don't
want to see, you know,
any gringos in this area
because it would raise suspicions.
This area is quite dangerous.
Even though we've gotten
permission to see this cocaine lab,
to get there we have to
pass through land controlled
by other clans and militias
who have no idea who we are
or what we're up to.
MARIANA: So, I'm
a little startled,
when in the middle
of a deserted road.
Uh, in the pitch dark.
A man suddenly appears
out of the darkness.
I'm trying to figure
out who this guy is.
MARIANA: The chemist, the
key figure in the whole operation,
was standing on a mountain road,
in the pitch dark.
Sometimes you can't
make this stuff up.
So, they're checking the
area to make sure that
everything is safe.
MARIANA: Okay, shut
off all lights.
And here it is, the
entry into the jungle.
MARIANA: He's saying that the
town that's close by and if they see us,
it can create problems
to all of us.
These labs are the economic
engines for the local communities,
without them,
there would be little
demand for coca leaves.
That's why villagers
are so protective.
We're basically a threat
to their livelihood.
The chemist has made me
promise that I won't
reveal the location.
I told him it's not a problem.
I can barely see my own feet.
I can't see (bleep),
I can't see (bleep).
Wow. This is it.
It's right here.
Wow.
♪
MARIANA: I'm not gonna lie,
it's always a rush getting
access to these
clandestine worlds.
The cocaine pit, the starting
point for such a storied,
black market trade,
ranks up there.
But as the reporter
high wears off,
I realize that the whole
process boils down to brute
labor and simple chemistry.
(speaking native language)
So, they've been doing
this for three days.
And now this is the final step,
which they mix it with salt.
It takes 400 kilos, almost 900
pounds of coca leaves to make
one kilo of cocaine.
They're soaked in water,
acid, and bleach,
which draws the drugs
out of the leaves.
And now it's ready to be moved
on to smaller containers
to the lab.
♪
Here in this makeshift lab,
they'll start the
purification process.
MAN: Uh-huh.
MARIANA: Researchers
discovered how to extract
cocaine from coca leaves
over 150 years ago.
And Americans got their first
taste of the drug in Coca-Cola
back in the 19th Century.
Before it was banned by the
federal government in 1914.
It's a really,
really intense smell.
MAN: Yes.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: To purify cocaine in
the middle of the Peruvian jungle,
they figured out how
to extract the drug using
simple household chemicals
and a whole lot of gasoline.
In this lab, each batch
requires 70 gallons.
MARIANA: Ammonia, bleach,
cement, lime, gasoline.
With each toxic additive,
the drug becomes more
and more concentrated.
So, what they're doing is that
they're removing the top of it,
which is the fuel.
And the bottom is a clear
sort of liquid and
that's where the drugs remain.
You see it's pretty dark.
And that's all the gasoline.
And the clear part underneath.
MARIANA: So, yeah, that's
the drugs right there.
So, they call that clear liquid,
they call it the soup.
MARIANA: No, thanks.
He asked me if I
wanted to try it.
I said no.
Ooh, check this out.
This is amazing.
It's crazy to think that only
weeks from now this jungle
soup will disappear up
some American's nostrils.
Now it's time for
the final step.
A splash of ammonia
to solidify the drugs.
MARIANA: Okay, they
have to speed it,
we have to speed it up, guys.
With so many livelihoods
depending on this lab,
Ceviche's friend is taking a
massive risk giving us a peek
behind the curtain.
So when the chemist
disappears for a moment,
I begin to worry.
MARIANA: Hey guys, we have
to go right now. MAN: Okay.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Let's go, let's go.
Okay, so we were spotted
by somebody up on the road.
They said we have to get to
the car and get out of here.
Okay. We have to go fast.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: No, no, no.
(speaking native language)
Are they all inside?
Thankfully, we escaped
without incident,
but the drug's long journey
north is only just beginning.
It's a new day in the VRAEM.
Last night's coca paste
has hardened into bricks.
The next challenge?
Getting them out of the valley.
The easiest way
would be by plane.
But the Peruvian Military now
has permission to shoot down
suspected drug flights.
Driving the coke
out would also work,
but the roads here are
littered with police checkpoints.
So that's given way to the
preferred method of transport,
in a backpack.
The same guys who ran the lab
ask us to meet them outside of
town at a trail head that
leads up into the Andes.
Copy that, we're, uh,
we're following the convoy,
we're right behind
the other two cars.
(speaking native language)
Okay. We're here.
Okay. Take my headlamp out.
They're known as "mochileros",
the Spanish word for backpacker.
Their backpacks are filled
with bricks and powder.
They are the sherpas
of the cocaine world.
I was surprised to learn that
the chemist from last night
is also a mochilero.
MARIANA: The elevation,
more than 6,000 feet
and I can feel it.
Just started like 15 minutes
ago and I'm already exhausted.
And I'm not carrying
ten kilos on my back.
MARIANA: Rival clans,
corrupt cops, thieves of all kinds,
it's the wild west
out on the trails.
I asked what would happen
if they get attacked.
♪
♪
MARIANA: I'm following the
"cocaine highway" from the
mountains of Peru to
the nightclubs of Miami.
It's 4:00 AM and I'm embedded
with a group of young men
risking their lives to hike 30
kilos out of the VRAEM Valley.
So, this is the main
stuff they take.
A can of tuna. Saltines.
They have a plastic that they use
to cover themselves in case it rains.
And then alcohol, which they
say helps with altitude sickness
because they're going
high up the mountain.
So, this here is worth $900.
Each kilo, in the US
once it's processed,
it's worth $25,000.
MARIANA: That means these
guys are carrying about
$750,000 worth of raw cocaine.
MARIANA: Peruvian cocaine paste.
Some of the most
sought-after in the world.
The same bricks that Escobar
would fly into Colombia to
process into powder.
MARIANA: Gracias.
It looks so unassuming.
It's hard to imagine the trail
of violence left in its wake.
(speaking native language)
Okay. They're getting
anxious about leaving.
Watching these young men pack,
I'm feeling conflicted.
I know what they're
doing is illegal,
and that the drug they're
carrying has caused millions
of families around
the world to suffer.
But after spending
two days with them,
I can't help but be
concerned for their safety.
They're just kids, only a few
years older than my own son.
It seems so unfair that the
lack of options in the VRAEM
means they have to risk their
lives just so Americans can
get their cheap high.
So, they said they're gonna
walk for 12 more hours,
and then, uh, and then
rest and then continue for
a day and a half more.
MARIANA: Okay.
We make plans to meet up at
the end of their journey,
but I'm worried.
Anything could
happen on the trail.
MARIANA: As the mochileros
rise out of the valley,
the price of cocaine
rises as well.
Theirs is just the first leg of
a global distribution network.
If the mochileros
survive the hike,
they will sell to a new owner,
who will smuggle the drugs
by car into Lima and
then head north.
Each time the drugs change
hands the price jumps.
Smugglers must account for the
real cost of transport and the risk.
Plus, each will take their
share of the profits.
Eventually, the cocaine passes
through Ecuador to Colombia,
my next stop.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: At first glance,
Turbo looks like any other
Caribbean fishing town.
But just beneath the surface
is another reality.
MARIANA: Oliver Schmeig is a
German photojournalist who's
spent decades in Colombia
documenting the drug trade.
MARIANA: What are the chances
we could see one of these
boats or even ride
in one of them?
MARIANA: Oliver works his
contacts and directs me to
a dock on the edge of town,
which I'm not allowed
to show on camera.
But just as he promised,
I'm met by two cocaine
smugglers in a boat.
(engine starts)
MARIANA: Today, the
boats are empty of cargo.
The smugglers agree to
talk about their work,
but they won't let
me near the product.
The multimillion-dollar
payloads they move are too
valuable to risk showing them
off to foreign journalists.
MARIANA: Smugglers use these
low-tech fiberglass boats to
outmaneuver the Colombian
Military and its ally,
the US Coast Guard.
Radar waves, which
easily detect metals,
can only get an extremely
weak signal off fiberglass,
making boats like this
practically invisible.
MARIANA: Okay.
There's a boat over there.
MARIANA: Okay. It's a fisherman.
But they were saying before
that if anything, uh,
if any boat approaches,
that they, uh,
immediately take off their masks
and we put the cameras down.
And we just say we're
doing a show about tourism.
MARIANA: Okay. They're
not feeling very comfortable.
MARIANA: Okay. They're going
to take off their masks.
♪
MARIANA: I'm in a boat off
the coast of Colombia with
two very nervous
cocaine smugglers.
They were spooked by some
passing fisherman so they're
taking me into deeper waters
where they say it's safer to speak.
So, he was saying that
all these fishermen,
everyone here basically,
works for the clan.
So, if they see
him talking to us,
they'll go inform and that
could be dangerous for them.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: The Clan del Golfo
is Colombia's largest and most
powerful drug cartel,
made up of mostly hardened
paramilitary fighters
and wanted war criminals.
How violent exactly
is the Clan del Golfo?
MARIANA: Wow.
I know that getting access to
cartel leadership is a bigger ask.
For days, it didn't look like it
was going to happen and then,
out of nowhere,
we got the green light.
We just made the first right,
guys.
We're all together, let's go.
In the car ahead of us is one
of the Clan del Golfo's top
commanders in this region.
We have no idea where we're going
but we're following the commander.
So, there are a couple of, uh.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Soldiers right up here.
And there's a cop up there, too?
Okay, what the (bleep)?
(speaking native language)
MAN: No. MARIANA: Okay.
But with the
military everywhere,
we're all a bit on edge.
OLIVER: Let's try to get
in very quickly here.
MARIANA: Okay.
(speaking native language)
OLIVER: Please.
MARIANA: This is it.
It's a little ranch house.
Okay.
One, two. Can you hear me?
One, two, three, four, five.
MAN: Yes, ma'am. Okay.
MAN: Okay.
MARIANA: Even though the
commander and his bodyguard trust Oliver,
this is the first time we've
met and they're skeptical.
I show him some photos of my
past work and hope that will
convince him that I'm
not law enforcement.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: They eventually
agree to the interview.
Okay.
MARIANA: In the
traditional business world,
he might be considered
a VP of operations.
He's helping to
manage a complicated,
global criminal network
out of a farmhouse in the
Colombian countryside.
MARIANA: That's a weekly
shipment of cocaine worth
$25 million on the
streets of Miami.
MARIANA: The Clan del Golfo's
top commander, Otoniel,
is Colombia's public
enemy number one,
with a $5-million
bounty on his head.
He's notorious for
assassinating government
officials and ordering the
detonation of a grenade in the
middle of a night club.
(shouting)
He demands complete
loyalty from his soldiers.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: As we talk,
I begin to realize that,
even when you're near the
top of the cartel food chain,
safety is no guarantee.
MARIANA: In the last few years,
cocaine trafficking in Colombia
has reached record levels.
From what these men tell me,
this rise has been
anything but glamorous.
Yet the country is the
distribution center for the
global cocaine trade.
From here, roughly half the
supply is shipped to Europe,
Africa, Asia, and Australia.
The other half will end
up in the United States.
That's if smugglers
can evade these guys.
(radio chatter)
MAN: Six yards.
MAN: We just spotted a
northbound vessel heading
from the South in a known
drug trafficking area.
Usually with a vessel that,
that size, over 40 feet,
has cabins, spaces that
you could actually hide
large amount of narcotics.
We're gonna board a vessel that
is suspected of narcotics smuggling.
You're going to
encounter a master.
He may or may not be armed.
Watch out for each other, do
your job, gain compliance,
however, means necessary.
MARIANA: In the last five years,
the US Coast Guard has seized
a record amount of cocaine at sea.
MAN: We're here today to
offload 14,200 pounds.
MAN: 11 tons.
MAN: 20 metric tons.
MAN: Of pure uncut cocaine.
MAN: Worth over $190 million.
MAN (over loudspeaker):
Hands up! Hands up!
Put your hands up.
(speaking native language)
(speaking native language)
MAN: The drug trafficking
organizations are creative and
they're always looking for
ways to elude detection.
That could be a go-fast vessel
that could be a low-profile
vessel that can be
a semi-submersible.
(speaking native language)
MAN: That could be a
fully submersible,
that could be legitimate
commercial traffic.
MAN: Get the vessel,
starboard bow.
We're gonna scramble the
boarding team together,
get them on the small boat,
to go over and investigate,
see what's going on.
Just not enough to figure out
what's actually physically going on,
until you put boots on deck.
MARIANA: The most dangerous
part of an officer's job,
when they board what they
suspect is a drug-running boat.
MAN (over radio): Reports now
show that there are packages on deck.
MAN (over radio): All good, go.
MARIANA: Smugglers in this
situation have a difficult choice.
Abandon their cargo and face
the cartel's wrath or try to
outrun the red, white, and blue.
MAN: US Coast Guard,
let me see your hands!
♪
MAN: Uh, without
reaching or touching,
you got any weapons on board?
All right, we're
gonna come on board and, uh,
do an inspection of your vessel,
make sure you guys are in
compliance with all
Federal rules and regulations
for a vessel of this size.
MARIANA: 141 miles from Miami,
the coast guard intercepted a
suspected smuggling boat.
WOMAN (over radio): 40
is 006, 10, two, zero.
MAN: Uh, the more traditional
drug smuggling routes in the
Caribbean are having
an uptick in activity.
You have nonstop boat traffic.
And some of them could
be legitimately fishing,
but also have drugs
hidden on board.
MARIANA: Cocaine accounts for
94% of all narcotics seized at sea.
MAN: After the boarding,
we discovered that the
vessel was a charter for hire
just in a suspicious area.
Everybody on board was
compliant, and it's, you know,
the best outcome you could
have in a situation, uh,
when you're talking
about safety.
MARIANA: No drugs are found.
The coast guard moves on.
Catching drug runners on the
high seas is an elusive game
of cat and mouse.
MAN: We're operating in
an area larger than the
continental United States.
Now imagine you have three or
four police cars patrolling
the continental United States.
That's essentially
what the Coast Guard,
with our ships, is doing.
MAN: The busts out here, it's,
it's just pivotal before those
drugs make it towards the US
and can be dispersed
throughout the different states.
MARIANA: With such a
large area to patrol,
it's impossible
to catch them all.
MAN: In all the efforts,
everyday doing the mission,
we only get 10% of known drugs
that are being moved towards
the United States.
MARIANA: The remaining 90% of
cocaine slips past undetected,
heading to Miami under
the cover of darkness.
40 years after cocaine
built this skyline,
the drug money is
still pouring in.
This convertible is a tribute
to my childhood crushes,
Crockett and Tubbs.
As I cruise towards south
beach to meet a coke dealer,
I'm actually thinking back to
the final episode of Miami Vice,
when they decide to turn
in their badges because they
realize that the war
on drugs is unwinnable.
After 3,000 miles on
the cocaine highway,
I'd be lying if I said I
didn't wonder the same.
Do you have some of the
stuff you sell with you?
MAN: Yeah, I have some here.
MARIANA: You have
some in your pocket?
MAN: Yeah. I brought a
couple bags with me.
Just looks like regular powder,
just a couple bags,
and keep them there, you know.
MARIANA: So it looks
like a cigar case.
MAN: Yeah, for sure.
That's what I keep it in.
You know, it's a little
more inconspicuous.
The way I make most of
my money is, like, $20 bags.
MARIANA: Uh-hmm.
MAN: I come down to South
Beach and I sell a $20 bag for
$40 and just multiply, so.
On a good day, I'll get two
ounces, for about 2,000 bucks.
MARIANA: And if you sell it all,
how much money can you make?
MAN: About 5,000, almost six.
MARIANA: How long does
it take you to sell that?
MAN: That'll be
gone in three days.
MARIANA: So, you can make
$3,000 in three days,
essentially $1,000 a day.
MAN: Yeah. Yeah, about that.
MARIANA: Is it pure
cocaine that you sell? I mean.
MAN: It's all right, yeah.
It'll keep people up for
days at a time, for sure.
South Beach loves it.
In the clubs, everybody,
you know.
South Beach is cocaine.
In this year, this generation,
that's what everybody wants.
Everybody loves to party,
they come to Miami,
they wanna party
in the party city.
That's what it's all about.
MARIANA: It's just
after midnight,
and the dealer agrees to
let me watch him work,
but only if I play by his rules.
So, we can't have our
cameras out there,
the only way he'd, he agreed
for us to film this was just we'd
stay in the car and
we'd film it from here.
How do you go about selling it?
MAN: You just gotta be low key.
You gotta be ahead of
your game, you know,
because people try to set you
up with different stuff, yeah.
You gotta be prepared, for sure.
Sometimes when I deal with
more weight, you know,
I have to bring a pistol
with me, stuff like that,
because people try to rob you.
MARIANA: What kind do you have?
MAN: A .357 Magnum with
a six-inch barrel.
It's one of my favorites.
MARIANA: Have you used it?
MAN: No, I wouldn't
wanna comment on that.
MARIANA: Okay, he just
got a phone call
and he's walking somewhere.
Oh, man, the he just
went in there, somewhere.
MAN: I do mostly everything
right now just with text messages.
I have like a burner phone,
an untraceable phone.
MARIANA: Okay, he's
walking, uh, this way.
So, I'm just gonna check on him,
see what's up.
MARIANA: Right there
inside the pizza place?
MARIANA: You just went into
the bathroom and gave her.
MARIANA: And she gave you
the money, and that was it.
MARIANA: Right.
How many people do you
sell to in a week,
more or less, you think?
MAN: In a week, I'd say,
I mean, 75 people, maybe.
MARIANA: Wow, that's a lot!
MAN: Product sells itself.
MARIANA: Aren't you
afraid of getting caught?
MAN: I mean, now I
am because, yeah,
I have a family and
stuff like that,
but still gotta feed 'em,
you know what I'm saying,
gotta take care of the family,
by any means necessary,
that's all.
It's a small sacrifice, right?
Keep a little bail
money on the side.
Yeah, right, I'm ready,
for whatever happens.
MARIANA: Very few people know
the journey a kilo of cocaine
makes to get to
the United States,
or the hands that it
touches along the way.
But the path it follows from
beginning to end is shaped
by simple economics.
That's as clear on the streets
of Miami as it is on the boats
of Colombia or the
trails of Peru.
Okay, stop. They're here.
Back in the VRAEM, the chemist
and the would-be dentist have
just made their drop.
Another 30 kilos
are headed north.
Captioned by
Cotter Captioning Services.