His successor, Gen. Luis Ernesto Gilibert, is now under pressure to dedicate more effort to fighting street crime. In the countryside, the landscape of terror has shifted. Once drug barons were feared. Now, it is the armed outlaw bands. Guerrilla roadblocks are common.
Rebels stop cars to hunt for potential kidnap victims.
Toting laptop computers, rebels check banking records to calculate possible ransom demands. Few have finished elementary school. The group, loosely Marxist, has enriched itself through extortion, kidnapping and protection of the drug trade. The world's leading source of cocaine, Colombia produced 520 metric tons of it last year, the CIA says. While some Colombians fret that the counter-narcotics aid will intensify their nation's war, others hope new U.S. helicopters and other assistance will boost their army's efforts to combat rebels.