Out of Captivity : Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle

288 OUT OF CAPTIVITYknow the number of wounded or killed among the FARC. We imaginedtheir losses had to be significant based on the intensity and lengthof the battle.Later in the day Mono came to Keith and whispered, “Keith, the merchandiseis here.” At first, Keith wasn’t sure what he meant; the guardsfrequently delivered supplies to us. When he repeated the message,Keith understood. Mono was referring to the cocaine that had not yetbeen fully refined. Mono claimed that the Front had shipped five tonsto our location.During our years of captivity, we hadn’t seen much of the FARC’sdrug operation up close. On one of our short marches, we’d been insidea lab, but hadn’t seen the final product. The news of this massivecocaine shipment explained why our guards had been on longer rotations.Instead of being with us for two hours, they were taking five-hourshifts. The guards we weren’t seeing were likely guarding the cocaine.When Keith told us about the amount of coke on the premises, we allthought about the job we’d been doing before our captivity and how ithad contributed to the situation the FARC was currently in. They hadthe drugs at our location, but they couldn’t move them anywhere becauseof the strong military presence and heavy activity. We were gladto know that the combined efforts of the Colombians and the Americansin Plan Patriota were having some effect.While it was hard for me to visualize what five tons of crystal cocainelooked like, it was easy to picture the devastation that amount ofdrugs could do to neighborhoods back in the U.S. I was used to seeingphotos of kids shot in drug-related drive-by shootings on the streets ofjust about every major American city. I was used to seeing pictures ofcrack babies. I was used to seeing pictures of grieving families at funeralsfor those directly and in most cases indirectly involved in the drugtrade. I was used to hearing the outrageous numbers of dollars narcotraffickingproduced.What I had come to see in my time in Colombia was that there was a