Panic in the Jungle
- 13 Nov 07, 01:10 PM
Posted from: Louisiana
12:30 pm: Covered in sweat from the heavy work the workers take a break and are joined by some other members of the family who have brought them food. No kidding, this was by far the best food on the whole journey so far, made up of some very tasty rice and spicy fish which they very generously share with us.
With not too much of a rest they resume the leaf beating and the thud of heavy sticks on mulchy leaves echoes through the jungle. One of his young sons, a cheeky little five-year-old has stayed with us and, in between climbing trees, he gazes up at his dad as he works.
Bruce looks on as the workers toil
Suddenly the men look up through the trees towards the sky and a panic appears on their faces as the sound of an approaching helicopter draws closer. We are pretty well hidden under the canopy but they take no chances and run off into the undergrowth. We all look up nervously as an army helicopter flies slowly overhead but luckily it passes by us and the guys set straight back to work.
Once they are happy with the state of the pounded leaves they use a large piece of gauze to collect the remaining brown water, now infused with the coca. This is placed into one of a series of four large barrels placed in a row. More chemicals are added including kerosene and sulphuric acid. A tedious process then takes place, involving sifting and more mixing in kerosene then draining the top oily layer off and moving the liquid that is left onto the next barrel and so fourth.
Many hours later they were happy with the content of the last barrel, so then saved what they could of the mixed kerosene to use again. They then poured the large amounts of nasty chemical liquid left in the barrels away into a pit. The dad signalled to his young son who pulled out a stopper of grass in the side of the pit causing the chemicals to run away into the stream so polluting the same water source that runs down to supply the communities below. As a result of helping, the young boy鈥檚 hands and feet were covered in the acidic residue but neither he nor his dad seemed to worry.
By now it was starting to get dark and this location was far from safe, yet we had almost captured the whole process so carried on filming with the aid of a head torch. The men boiled down the liquid until they were left with a sludge and put this into a frying pan and heated it over the fire. What remained was a black tar type substance and as it cooled it turned light in colour.
They had toiled all day for this small amount of cocaine paste and would sell it on for a meagre amount to paste dealers who then have it refined in cocaine labs. As cocaine it would then increase in price as it passed along the chain as the danger in dealing with it also increased.
To feed the cocaine demand, the process we had witnessed today goes on every day all across the Apurimac valley. As the manufacture process is carried out mostly by poor people in low-key operations, using easily available chemicals, it seems almost impossible to stop. By now it was pitch black and my torch had just stopped working so Bruce helped me with his as we made our way back through the jungle in the direction of the car. Our driver had warned us of the danger of driving at night but felt at this time we should be OK as we were just catching the end of paste dealers returning from the jungle to the town so would blend in with the traffic.
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