A FARC guerilla and his son watch for Colombian army activity
on the Rio Putumayo near Puerto Vega.

The South-American country of Colombia is known to most Americans only as the provider of the insidious drug, cocaine. But poverty and lack of opportunity have made Colombia a land ripe for revolution. While much of the world has discounted the Communist experiment as a failure, Marxist groups in Colombia continue an armed struggle for control.

However, many believe that FARC and ELN, the largest guerilla groups, have sold out their Marxist ideologies for the dollars that the cocaine trade brings to Colombia.

The United States is currently working with the Colombian military to strengthen it as Plan Colombia, a $1.3 billion U.S.-sponsored initiative against the cocaine trade and guerilla groups, goes in effect.

Reporter Dick Reavis and I traveled to Colombia in the fall and winter of 2000. Our stories and photos were published in the San Antonio Express-News in Jan. 2001.


Above, a woman about to be evacuated from Puerto Asis in Putumayo, Colombia weeps for her family who will not be able to leave with her. Thousands of displaced civilians are caught between guerillas, right-wing paramilitaries and the army.

A man on motorcycle is checked by Colombian Army soldiers in the dead of night in Puerto Asis, Putumayo state.	A Colombian Air Force C-130 transport leaves supplies for the residents of Puerto Asis, a town blockaded by FARC guerillas.

Residents of Puerto Asis in the Putumayo region of Colombia
rush to get onboard a Colombian Air Force C-130 transport
in hopes of leaving their guerilla-blockaded town. The nation's
growing refugee crisis is being largely ignored by much of the world.

To Colombia crisis, page 2

Back to Shades and Shadows home