Colombia’s Putumayo province is a key supplier of the unprecedented increase in cocaine production.
Photographer: Esteban Vanegas/BloombergThe Golden Age of Cocaine Is Happening Right Now
The global fallout is showing up everywhere from the warehouses of Antwerp to coup plots in West Africa and bringing violence, corruption and big profits.
This is the second story in a series about global shipping and the surge in drug trafficking. Read the first installment from Businessweek here and the final article here.
The biggest cocaine boom in history has its origins outside towns like La Dorada, Colombia. Here, a few miles down a rutted track through the Amazon, cattle ranches and fish farms give way to endless fields of coca, the pale green shrub used for making the drug.