Introduction Drug cartels in Columbia refer to organized production and related operations on illegal drugs particularly cocaine. Columbia has been among the leading countries reported to have the most sophisticated and violent organizations dealing with trafficking of drugs worldwide. The venture started as a small business of trafficking cocaine but now it has turned into an international empire of drug trafficking, not only of cocaine, but of other illegal drugs as well. Additionally, the traffickers have now attained more than adequate capital to invest in the business (Chatsworth 1). For instance, the traffickers hired experts in engineering from the Unites States of America and from Russia to help build a submarine which has been used to secretly smuggle large volumes of illegal drugs especially cocaine to the U.S. History of Columbia and the drug problem How the cartels started Drug trafficking in Columbia began way back in the 1970s where the leaders started off with smuggling of marijuana but in the mid-1970s, the traffickers started engaging in cocaine trafficking through export of small quantities of cocaine to the U.S. using suite cases. At this point, cocaine was sold freely in the American streets. With the increasing production, trafficking and consumption of the initial drug marijuana, the United States government in conjunction with that of Columbia launched a campaign on trafficking of drugs referred to as “war on drugs” (Prada 1). Following this prohibition, some of the established producers and traffickers of drugs established unified trafficking cartels. By 1980s, the demand for drugs had increased resulting to expansion and more organization of the cartels into major criminal organizations which were led by specified members of the groups. Some of these cartels included the Cali cartel, the North Coast cartel and the Medellin cartel among others. To get a better understanding of the development of the cartels, we will look at how the various cartels were established. The Medellin cartel was one of the leading cartels in Columbia which was operated under Pablo Escobar. This was a ruthless organization which kidnapped and killed people who tried to get in the way of their operations. As a matter of fact, the Medellin cartel was reported to have caused hundreds of deaths of law enforcement officers, politicians, government officials and even innocent citizens who they encountered during their operations (Tate 1). In order to make their operations much easier, the cartels in-cooperated its operations with various criminal groups in the countries involved. The Medellin cartel began its operations inside Colombia where they imported coca and processed it into cocaine and distributed it to the United States of America. This put great pressure on the U.S. government and that of Colombia to destroy the cartel by countering it using police and military personnel. The Cali cartel was established in the southern part of Colombia within the city of Cali with its founders as the Rodrigues brothers, Miguel and Gilberto. The initial operation of Cali cartel was based on kidnappings which were used to raise funds for trafficking of marijuana which later progressed to cocaine. With time, the Cartel’s revenue grew substantially to an estimate of over $7 billion a year (Ramsey 1). This caused a great impact on the country as justice