Narrator: These men are preparing to take on some of the most dangerous drug gangs in the world. They are part of Colombia's special forces, a military unit that selects the country's best fighters for top-secret missions, like saving hostages kidnapped by cartels and rebel groups. Narrator: Colombia produces 70% of the world's cocaine, and the fight to control it fueled a brutal civil war that killed nearly half a million people. The men we interviewed for this story agreed to speak with us on camera but asked us not to use their real names. We traveled to the Colombian jungle to see how world-class soldiers trained to take on some of the most sophisticated criminal groups in the world. The Tolemaida military base sits at the heart of Colombia and houses the country's best fighters. Like Luis, who enrolled in the army nearly two decades ago. Narrator: He has since served in units all over the country.

Narrator: All special forces soldiers have to spend at least 42 days here every year. Luis started with roughly 120 of Colombia's top recruits. Most of them have since dropped out. Narrator: Today, these remaining 17 head out to a nearby training field just after sunrise. They'll practice one of the hardest moves, ambushing enemies from the air. The soldiers strap on about 70 pounds of gear, including an M16 rifle. They carry everything from bullets to antivenom in case they end up in the jungle and get bit by poisonous snakes. This structure is designed to simulate jumping out of a helicopter or repelling off a building. Narrator: They're climbing about 50 feet. This is called lanceros training. Fighters who complete it call themselves sky soldiers. This technique is the Colombian army's main method of infiltration. Several fighters can use one of these thick ropes at the same time, which helps them land in tight spaces in the jungle.

within seconds to carry out high-stakes missions, like rescuing hostages. Seventy-one people were kidnapped in the first three months of 2023, according to the Colombian Defense Ministry. That's more than double the abductions over the same period in 2022. Reports suggest that's because revenue from coca crops here is dropping. Production is outpacing demand, so drug traffickers are looking for an alternative source of income, demanding ransom in exchange for hostages. Narrator: If they land on a building in a city, they have to descend using another technique. But walking in this position is so hard on their joints that Luis says he almost gave up the first few times he tried. Narrator: Once they hit the ground, they have to get in formation right away so they don't leave themselves vulnerable. But as much as they plan, it's hard to know for sure what they're going into. The Tolemaida training base is surrounded by areas

where the government has tracked a lot of rebel and cartel activity. Colombia has at least 23 drug gangs and four big rebel groups. Locals refer to cartels as the invisibles. They say fighting them is like fighting ghosts because their operations are discreet and widespread. The largest cartel, Clan del Golfo, controls the most important drug-trafficking routes into the US. Its members wear the letters AGC, which stands for the Gaitanistas Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. They have their own bylaws and act as police in some rural areas, where they control entire towns. Today, official membership in gangs, rebel groups, and cartels is higher than ever. Informants work around the clock tipping them off. And they are notorious for killing anyone who opposes them. At least 134 community members were reportedly assassinated in the first eight months of 2023 alone. So soldiers say keeping their missions top secret

is key to staying alive. This battalion wouldn't disclose specifics about what it's preparing for. Narrator: They go on 25 to 40 missions a year. Some can last three weeks. They have to learn to launch weapons, like these 40 mm grenades to blow up rooms. The red and blue dots indicate danger and safety zones, which help the soldiers determine how they'll navigate the course. Narrator: They have to throw the grenade at least 65 feet to avoid getting hit by the blast. But they're also running with these explosives, and the injuries can be permanent. Colombia has been waging a war on drugs since the 1970s, when small-scale cocaine producers began smuggling suitcases lined with the white powder into the US. By the mid-1980s, about 70 tons of cocaine were making their way into the US every year. And as demand for it boomed there, it became clear that this would be a lucrative industry.

here in Colombia too, one that now employs at least 400,000 people across the country and rakes in roughly $18 billion annually. Over the years, narco empires grew so rich and so big, they could afford to build their own submarines and even hire their own pilots. Colombian police were also tasked with taking them down. Óscar Naranjo, the former vice president of Colombia, remembers those days. Narrator: As a police officer, he played a big part in taking down the notorious Medellin Cartel in 1993, run by Pablo Escobar, and the Cali Cartel, which ruled the cocaine trade in the 1990s. Narrator: But even after Escobar's arrest and the fall of Colombia's biggest cartels, drug trafficking continued. It was mostly led by the FARC, a communist rebel group that, at one point, controlled over half of the country's coca crops.

Mainly, people from rural areas had joined the group in the 1960s to fight against the growing wealth gap between Colombia's rich and poor. That dispute turned into a civil war that lasted more than 50 years. Finally, in 2016, the group struck a peace deal with the state and disbanded. Control over coca production splintered. Smaller groups took over, making it harder to hold any one party accountable. And even though the government has since demolished neighborhoods, like El Bronx in Bogota, Naranjo says the problem runs deep. Narrator: But even government officials like him have been accused of taking bribes from drug smugglers. Naranjo has repeatedly denied the allegations against him. And despite the claims, the US Drug Enforcement Administration named him an honorary special agent in 2010. The United States is Colombia's main funder in its war on drugs.

And since 1999, it's spent over $10 billion on counter-narcotics operations here. That's because most of this cocaine ends up in the United States, where in 2022, nearly 30,000 people died of cocaine-related overdoses. Colombia has also seen its share of death from cartel violence. The war on drugs and the ongoing civil conflict here killed over 450,000 people between 1985 and 2018 and forced nearly 8 million more out of their homes. And soldiers say the rebels and narco criminals involved in the war won't spare anyone that gets in their way. Narrator: Eduardo is one of the most experienced fighters here. Narrator: He'll have to leave this unit soon because he's getting close to the retirement age of 38. Everyone who goes on these kinds of missions has to be in top fighting shape. Narrator: Eduardo trains beside the other soldiers,

but he also helps run the second half of today's exercise. Narrator: They're training in the jungle. They've set up makeshift targets all over to help them practice different scenarios. Most of their missions play out in terrain similar to this. They're walking miles in scorching heat. Cars are loud and can't reach many of the places they need to go. Narrator: Once soldiers have a target in sight, they usually aim at the chest to injure, but not kill, them. That way, they can target even more offenders who come to their help. The soldiers make these sounds together to practice shooting in sync. But the key is to move in silence to go undetected, so they have to anticipate each other's moves. They file like this because one of them always has to have the other's backs. They're striking moving targets, so they have to be ready to get in formation right away.

But things may not always go as planned, so they have safe words. Narrator: And if one of them is gunned down, they'll never leave them behind. Narrator: Since the 1980s, cocaine producers have set up operations in remote places across Colombia to avoid getting caught. At secret hideouts like these, they turn coca leaves into paste and into powder. The government has tried to systematically wipe out cocaine production by ripping out the crops. Special police units also track down and destroy illegal refineries that produce gasoline, an important ingredient in cocaine. But they pop up faster than they can be taken out, because they're so rustic and easy to build, and so fights in remote areas like these are inevitable. Patches on soldiers' uniforms can give away their family names and allow someone to retaliate. Still, Eduardo carries some mementos. Narrator: Even though these soldiers say they're trying to help their country,

they aren't always considered the good guys here. More than 200,000 families across Colombia depend on coca farming to keep their own families alive. Like Francisco, who has been growing it for more than 23 years. Narrator: He lives in Nariño, a remote part of the country where there are hardly any other well-paying jobs. Narrator: The government introduced a crop substitution program in 2016, and a UN report found that about 100,000 families signed up but that most of them didn't receive the full promised payments. Narrator: The agency in charge of the program told Business Insider that it's working with the families to find a compromise, but it didn't share specifics. Unlike other crops, like coffee and plantains, coca can be harvested up to six times a year. The plant now covers five times as much land as it did in the days of Pablo Escobar. The country's leftist president, Gustavo Petro,

wants to legalize cocaine, but the US does not support that move. Narrator: Back at the base, the men are done training for the day. Narrator: But Eduardo tries to call his wife every day when he's away. Narrator: Even though he is fighting for Colombia, he doesn't want to live here forever. Narrator: Luis plans to keep fighting for a while. Narrator: But he says it would be unrealistic to dream of peace and of a Colombia without cartels or cocaine.

How Colombia’s Elite Soldiers Train To Bust The World’s Deadliest Criminals | Risky Business

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