A few drug war photos...

some great shots, i can not wait for the day when i have the opportunity to shoot stories like that. my wife keeps bugging me about taking her to columbia. it seems to be the only place she is interested in visiting in south america. i suppose when it does happen i will use the opportunity to take her around the rest of the continent.

she is traipsing between refugee camps on the thai/burmese border right now. im stuck home working :(. when she returns in a few weeks she will be getting a SPOT. i saw the map from the one you carried in columbia. good deal.
 
Jeff --

Those are some great pictures; you've got a great eye. Great reporting as well. Thanks for taking the time to share the stories and observations--really appreciate that.
 
Fascinating, there are a couple slots with Central American militaries for Marines to exchange positions and run ops, looks like it'd be a pretty good tour.
 
Wow, that place looks beautiful. Those pictures are amazing. It's good to know some action is being done against the drug trade.
 
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Dear Santa........... :D
 
Awesome pics - having only been as far south as Mexico (and not very far in nor for very long, at that), I'm rather enjoying them. Thanks for sharing, Jeff.
 
Well done, man...beautiful country. Too bad the there is so much coca driven violence screwing it up.
 
Its too bad such a beautiful place is screwed up by greedy drug selling individuals. Looks like a great place to visit if it weren't so dangerous for the average person to visit. Just simply beautiful country.
Great pictures. Gutsy work on the part of all.
 
R.A.T. said:
Notice my dress and my gear. I damn sure want someone to know that I am not an operator or a gun toter. If I thought I needed a gun to go into these places, I'd just stay at home. I've done this same type of thing in other regions of SA without anyone with us carrying a gun.
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Maybe you misunderstood my question, I didnt think you were a mercenary. I’m asking about your experience abroad, like the two American (female) reporters that were arrested in N. Korean, have you experienced unfriendly encounter or fear capture or kidnapping. And to be clear, when I say capture, not that your a combatant but as a reporter in an unfriendly environment. I have read in past threads (regarding the SA survival course)that being in a foreign land kidnapping is a potential threat. Just curious. I wasn’t trying to suggest that you carry a gun, its more of your history and threat to personal security , that’s all.
 
I've had a few guns pointed at me in Peru by cocaleros, but so far not in Colombia. Anytime you travel to some of these areas there is a always a risk of being kidnapped or just outright killed, but there's also a risk of dying in a crash from a taxi driver or rented car. Typically though, what you hear is a lot worse than what it really is. To hear some people talk about Colombia, you would think there are FARC guerillas or paras ready to kidnap you the minute you clear Customs at the airport. To be honest, I feel safer there than I do some areas of Atlanta, Georgia or Birmingham, Alabama. I think a lot of SA countries have gotten the raw end of the deal on the danger level. True, they may be dangerous but typically it's not as bad as most folks would want you to believe. For example, a friend and I went to El Salvador to do some research on MS13 and the remaining FMNL folks. We were told by many people not to travel to a certain area along the Honduran border because we would be kidnapped, car-jacked, throats slit, robbed, raped, and stuffed in a 55 gallon drum of lye. We hired a driver and went anyway and never had the first problem. But when we decided to go into MS-13 territory we went with the police. So, you just have to be smart enough to research your destination and calculate the risks. Again, if you need to carry a weapon then it's probably best to stay at home or go with a group that truly understands the threat potential and has enough manpower and tools to take care of it. If I ever pick up a weapon in SA then you can bet the situation has degraded to the point that some serious killing is going on.
 
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