'Cartel of the Snitches' scores on Colombian TV

[Judi Lynn]

updated 9:24 a.m. EDT, Tue July 15, 2008
'Cartel of the Snitches' scores on Colombian TV

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- The highest-rated TV show in Colombia follows a rather grim plot line: Boy meets girl. Boy smuggles tons of cocaine. Longtime pals betray each other. Everyone ends up dead or in jail.

Based on a former trafficker's tell-all book, the series provides an insider's look at the Norte del Valle cartel, one of the most feared drug organizations in Colombia today. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the cartel has exported more than 500 metric tons of cocaine to the United States at a profit of more than $10 billion.

"The Cartel of the Snitches" exposes a Colombian underworld in which decade-long friendships are sacrificed for a shipment of cocaine, corrupt police take orders from traffickers while other officers are outsmarted, and women plot with lovers to kill their husbands. Every episode sees at least one person killed.

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"The traffickers' culture has been adopted by people who are not traffickers but act like them -- diplomats who run over people, politicians who threaten and get fired, traffic police who fine them, and police who break all the traffic laws because 'they are the authority,' " said Eduardo Arias, cultural editor for Colombia's largest news magazine, Semana.

More:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/07/15/colombia.series.ap/index.html

[Peace Patriot]

1. BushWorld. nt