A quarter of a century ago, the journalist y English writer Toby Muse entered the vast and dangerous world that revolves around the drug in Colombiawith its strata and diversities. This immersion of years of adventures has been documented in ‘Kilo’. The secret world of the cocaine cartels (Captain Swing). Muse’s conclusions are devastating and he keeps repeating a phrase that sums up the frustrations: the war on drugs is like getting on a stationary bike at the gym, “even if someone pedals for half an hour, they haven’t gotten anywhere.”
Although the bicycle does not move a millimeter, a way of alluding to a failure, that war has been vigorously reactivated by Donald Trump. After reading your book you get the feeling that even worse things are waiting for you. Among other reasons because he considers that we are still in a golden age of cocaine despite the arrests of characters like Chapo Guzmán.
First, we must recognize that the world is using more cocaine than ever. Why doesn’t anything change when they are capturing El Chapo or leaders of the Gulf Clan cartel? Because demand continues to rise. One cartel dies, another is born. We are condemned to live in a hellish cycle. Colombia is producing more cocaine than ever. One of the reasons for this growth is related to the 2016 peace process between the Government of Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC. The guerrilla controlled territories where a lot of coca was planted. When he handed it over he told the State: “Now, this territory is now yours.” And what the authority should have done is put a minimum of law and order in these areas: education, police, military to work with the communities. But the Government of Colombia was not capable. Who arrived? New loved groups. Nobody knows how many there are. It is a quite complex and confusing landscape.
In the book he presents minor characters of a greater narrative force. María, the day laborer who is happy with the 2.5 dollars she earns for every 11 kilos of coca she collects; Cachote, the murderer who entrusts himself to the virgin of the hitmen; Alex, whose fatal fate continues to the cemetery. How do I gain the trust of these testimonials?
I made some relationships with people who worked at mafia parties, events, bars and nightclubs. This is where they can show off their friends and everything they have. The new girlfriend, the chains, the rings, the clothes, the cars. That later allowed me to get my own contacts. It took me years to gain trust. In the case of the peasants it was easier. They live in areas like Catacumbo that are very complicated, without schools, without health centers, without bridges, without highways, without streets or trails. And I was like a way to send this message. The only ones who didn’t like my presence were the armed groups.
You talk about a whirlwind of violence and sex in the drug underworld. That universe reaches the series and is sometimes shown in a glamorous way. His characters are presented as seductive models, to emulate.
We have a serious cultural problem with that. Personally, I would like to destroy the myth of drug trafficking. They are men without mercy. And many movies paint Pablo Escobar as if he were a genius, even though there is no evidence of that. The romanticization of criminal culture has consequences; it elevates characters who are capable of killing people with chainsaws to the category of idols. They don’t deserve any kind of respect.
It also addresses the paradoxical fact of the guerrilla factions that refused to lay down their weapons because they are part of the criminal mechanism. How did this degradation process occur?
What one learns from cocaine is its ability to corrupt everything. And I think you can see that in the Colombian conflict. Before we had a guerrilla that talked about Stalin, Trotsky, and now they are talking about Sinaloa, Juárez. And yes, it is a big change. Some rejected the peace process for other political reasons, they did not feel very safe. And in some respects they have been right, they have been killed. I think they have murdered more than 400 guerrillas who were part of those who handed over their weapons. But there were other motivations as well. There is a very good example which is that of the Popular Liberation Army. He got into the cocaine business to raise funds, buy weapons, recruit more people and become stronger. They forgot about the revolution to dedicate themselves completely to cocaine. And something very similar was noticeable in recent years of FARC clashes with extreme right groups or the Government. The strongest battlefields were always where there was the most coca. I fear that Europe will learn this lesson very soon. I wonder how many cases of corruption in customs in England, Spain, Portugal, Holland have to do with the willingness of drug traffickers to buy wills.
American journalist and writer Toby Muse. / CAPTAIN SWING
The Government of Gustavo Petro claims to have reached historic figures for cocaine seizures: in 2025 alone, 445.9 tons were seized against 279 tons in 2024. Are the seizures enough if the eradication of crops is not faced?
I think it’s an interesting change. They were always dedicated to the lowest level, the peasant. But if you’re taking control of 10 tons of cocaine, that does hurt the cartels. It’s an approach that makes a lot more sense. It is good that the Government focuses on capturing all the bosses, the bosses, even knowing, as I said before, that at some point that does not make a big difference either. He can capture the head of the Gulf Clan tomorrow and that would have no impact. In the cocaine business.
You refer to a topic often overlooked: the moral question of consumption. Readers have come to him regretting having been complicit in the network by buying drugs and financing the expansion of the trafficking industry. Do the conditions exist to discuss this issue beyond the controversies over the legalization of certain narcotics?
That doesn’t stop being funny. After the book was published in English, a lot of people came up to me and said: “Hey, I just feel really bad, I regret having used cocaine.” And I: “Oh, well, OK, but it was never my intention to write a book to make people feel bad about doing cocaine.” Each person should do what they want with their life. If you want to smoke marijuana every day, well, it’s your life. I don’t judge anyone. I have my ideas of what a good life is like, and it wouldn’t be smoking marijuana every day. At the same time I think that people who only blame consumers do not understand the situation. And I’ll give you the example: 100 years ago in the United States we had the great prohibition on the sale of alcohol. You can’t blame someone who wanted to have a beer in 1923. The responsibility lay with those who had supported that policy, creating a black market where people like Al Capone earned fortunes. The current situation is very similar. The consumer has their role in the business, but we are failing in this war because we have created this black market. Legalization is something that drug traffickers fear. As I say in my book, I was having lunch with one of them and he got angry at the idea, because he thinks: high risk, high reward. If the risk is low, the opposite would happen. It is still an irony that the main supporters of the prohibition are the DEA and the drug traffickers themselves. It’s a completely crazy world.
Kilo It is also a chilling account of the effects of the cocaine business on the social fabric, economy and politics, not only of Colombia. And, in particular, the violence with territorial control disputes by gangs. Then he issues a warning: the world should start wondering what life will be like when powerful gangs, well financed by cocaine, go to war in London, Rotterdam, Barcelona, Madrid, New York and all of Asia. I think you already know the answer: he says that there is no turning back for hitmen. Could you explain it?
I think Europe awaits a rather dark future. I believe that the tentacles of cocaine have already spread throughout the continent. Something ugly awaits them. What would happen if London decided to take these cocaine mafias seriously and started war against them? They are also going to start fighting among themselves for control of the business. Are we going to have 15-year-old hitmen on motorbikes in London? It is possible. Everything is possible. Because cocaine can buy everything.
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