Most of these images have to do with the false glamour of drug-trafficking.

Or we think of news reports from a decade ago about a city where kingpins defied nations, most especially the national government and judiciary of Colombia itself. The new "mafia" brazenly held gun battles with police officials, kidnapped and murdered judges, protected by private armies...

Seldom, though, have we had reports from on the ground. Few of us have seen or read the accounts of everyday people like ourselves, going about their daily lives, and the effect(s) this environment has had upon their lives.

In August, 1996, G21 had the privilege of providing such a report, written by then-Staff Writer Ann Braun Wheatley, who had lived in Cali.

Because kidnapping of civilians remains high in Colombia, and security measures taken by various international organizations based there are constantly changing to deal with the threat, the original article by Ann Braun Wheatley will not be reproduced in its entirety. Instead, in deference to the security problem which remains in Colombia, the high number of kidnappings, and our concern for foreign nationals in that country, we will be producing an updated version of parts two and three of the original article. [That article has been cut for reasons of security concern. --Ed.]