The Myth of the 'Narcoguerrillas' (cover story)

On March 10, 1984, Colombian police swooped down on a jungle drug complex known as Tranquilandia and seized 27,500 pounds of pure cocaine. It was the biggest coke bust in history. A few days later the U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, Lewis Tambs, made a startling announcement that Tranquilandia had been protected by Communist rebels. A 1985 State Department and Defense Department report on Soviet influence in Latin America warned of an alliance between drug smugglers and arms deals in support of terrorists and guerrillas. 1916 presidential directive raised drug smuggling to the level of a national security threat because of what Vice President George Bush called "a real link between drugs and terrorism."