Word: colombianizing
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Suddenly, 25 armed men disguised as soldiers appeared and rounded up eleven miners and guaqueros. Forcing them to lie face down in the gritty black soil, the gunmen coolly shot and killed their victims one by one, then escaped into the verdant hillside. When real Colombian soldiers arrived to investigate the slaughter, they got no information from local villagers. Though many people heard and saw the shootings, none would admit it for fear of meeting a similar fate. The official conclusion: the incident was just another in a long line of vendettas among the thousands of emerald hunters afflicted with...
...produces no less than 90% of the world's supply of the precious green stones. Just as plentiful is the bloodshed caused by territorial fights among rival clans of guaqueros. Unlike the diamond-mining industry, which is tightly controlled by the South African cartel, De Beers Consolidated Mines, the Colombian emerald business is wide open. Though the government grants mining rights to production companies and nominally regulates the industry, the vast majority of emeralds are brought to market by independent, unregulated guaqueros. "There are no economic laws that apply," says Jack Rotiewicz, general manager of one of the government-authorized...
...Gangs are prospering because crime pays in the ghetto. Many gangs have made the deadly transition from switchblade bravado to organized crime, serving as highly efficient distributors for Colombian cocaine dealers. Stiff competition has prompted bloody firefights in broad daylight over market share, while the influx of drug money provides topflight weapons, fancy cars and high-tech surveillance equipment. Once an adolescent phase, gang membership is now a full-time job, enticing many members to stay well into their...
...earns easy, spends easy." These prospectors have recently been supplanted by two powerful mining companies that have government concessions to prospect on Indian land. Also on hand are an unknown number of soldiers, who are building a $109 million network of outposts to prevent gold smuggling and to keep Colombian rebels and cocaine couriers from violating the Brazilian border...
Pisces started small, when DEA agents posing as money launderers infiltrated the U.S. branch of the Colombian drug-smuggling cartel. Over time, the undercover cops won the confidence of higher-ups through efficient, discreet service. And they obtained unprecedented cooperation from authorities in Panama, where many of the drug Mafia's ill-gotten gains were traced. Besides netting hordes of drug traffickers, the coolly efficient agents showed a profit. Operation Pisces made $4.3 million in money-laundering commissions before the DEA wrapped up the operation...