As the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) reel under the increasingly effective counter-insurgency operations of the Colombian government, their need for financial support and channels for smuggling weapons into the country have grown more desperate. To keep the revolution alive, FARC leadership has grown increasingly reliant on the drug cartels that fund their operation in exchange for protection of drug operations and heavy fire-power to use against US and Colombian counter-narcotic forces.

Alberto Villa Lobos is now the most powerful drug lord in Colombia, after ruthlessly eliminating his competition and building considerable popular support among the local population. Now he leads one of the largest and most heavily armed drug cartels in the history of south America, with production spanning from Venezuela to Peru. They call themselves Mano del Dios (the hand of god) and now run FARC as a private army.

In April a group of D.E.A agents stopped a truckload of fruit crossing the border between Bolivia and Peru. Search of the vehicle revealed over 6 million dollars in cash and five hundred kilos of cocaine. One Cartel member was killed in the seizure. Two days later, cartel commandos firebombed a D.E.A safe house in Venezuela. 14 agents and 5 civilians were killed. Survivors fleeing the fire were executed. Violence between government troops, revolutionaries and

"The days of drug cartels are over. I am not a drug dealer, and what I command is not a cartel. What I have can only be refered to an empire....and I am it's emperor" Alberto Villa Lobos, head of the Mano del Dios drug cartel