Suggested activities

g Write out the sentences from the text which mean that:

1 Rodriguez did not know all the money-freight operators in Panama.

2 Money-freight operations made a big industry in Panama.

3 Some American bankers had been arrested for cooperation with drug dealers.

h Sum up what the text said about Rodriguez and Air Cash service industry.

i Agree or disagree and support your point of view:

If Rodriguez had not been arrested these money-freight operations would not have been revealed.

j Use your imagination and write a short account of how Rodriguez was arrested.

k Write down a summary of the four texts on the drug wars in Asia and Panama.

Section 2: Colombia

Pre-reading questions:

1. Where is Colombia located?

2. Is this country associated with drugs?

3. Have you heard anything about the Cali cartel?

Text 1

So the Cali cartel, once the world's most powerful criminal organisation, is dead, is it? The cartel's top bosses, most famously the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers, are now behind bars.

Until now, the biggest Cali bosses appeared to be safely behind bars. Too safe, complained American officials, who alleged that they have been running their drugs businesses from the comfort of their prison cells. The brutal slayings inside jail of two of Colombia's most notorious traffickers this month have silenced such talk. Now, the fear is that an all-out war might break out between the Cali has-beens and their putative successors.

On November 5th, a well-dressed man posing as a lawyer strolled on to the football pitch inside the Palmira maximum security prison near Cali. He warmly embraced Helmer «Pacho» Herrera – a top dog in the Cali mob – and, in front of Herrera's teammates, shot him six times in the head. Eight days later, Orlando Henao Montoya – the head of the Valle cartel. Call's one-time ally – was gunned down in another maximum-security prison. This time, it was Pacho's paraplegic brother who fired the shots from his electric wheelchair.

When the Cali leaders were rounded up in 1995 and 1996, Colombian and American authorities declared the mob shattered. But recent events suggest that, like the Valle mob, it remains a force to be reckoned with. The murders may be a sign that the mutual respect that once existed between the gangs is giving way to a power struggle. Equally worrying, say intelligence men, are signs that the biggest of the traffickers still at large are regrouping their operations.

Vocabulary notes

Words and Grammar

a Choose the synonyms from the box:

to stroll .. to walle...................... to appear...................................

to be behind bars..................... to break out...............................

to gun down.............................. to declare..................................

to slay........................................ to stop........................................

b Match the English and Russian equivalents:

с Find the English equivalents in the text:

может начаться открытая воина...........................................................................................................

недавние главари Кали..........................................................................................................................

их возможные преемники.....................................................................................................................

футбольная площадка...........................................................................................................................

тюрьма строгого режима.....................................................................................................................

бывший когда-то союзником Кали....................................................................................................

они объявили группировку уничтоженной.......................................................................................

d Underline the adjectives in different degrees of comparison and explain their formation.

e Underline the nouns to which the articles refer and translate the following into Russian:

the Call cartel.................................................................................................................

the world's most powerful criminal organization...........................................................

the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers....................................................................................

the brutal slayings..........................................................................................................

a well-dressed man........................................................................................................

to pose as a lawyer........................................................................................................

the Palmira maximum security prison..........................................................................

a power struggle...........................................................................................................

e Explain the meaning of the following in English and give the Russian equivalents:

to run drug business from the comfort of the prison cells..............................................

these brutal slayings have silenced this talk...................................................................

when the Cali leaders were rounded up in 1995 and 1996.............................................

it remains a force to be reckoned with............................................................................

the mutual respect is giving way to a power struggle.....................................................

f Make the following short assignments on Grammar:

g Write out the words from the text which show that:

1 The author doubts that the Call cartel is dead.

2 Many officials believed it was dead many years ago.

3 The gangsters are changing their tactics.

h Write out all the information about the Cali mob from the text.

i What's your opinion?

• Say why the Cali cartel and the Valle mobsters are not allies any longer, to your mind.

• What brought about their splitting.

Skim and scan:

Read the text quickly and answer the following questions:

1. Does the text give more details on the Cali drug cartel?

2. Can the text be entitled Gringo Involvement

Text 2

Colombia's drugs police lately had another reminder of the narcotic trade's tight grip on the country. On November 9th, American officials discovered nearly half a tonne of cocaine and several kilograms of heroine on a Colombian Air Force plane in Florida. It is not the first time drugs have been found on air-force aircraft: two years ago, a stash of heroine was discovered on the plane that was about to take Mr. Samper to a United Nations meeting in New York.

On that occasion, officers denied the existence of a drug-trafficking ring within the air force. This time they are beating a humiliating retreat. The drug seizure forced the immediate resignation of the air-force chief, General Jose Manuel Sandoval; and six of his men have since been detained by the attorney-general's office. Both President Andres Pastrana and his defence minister say that they will, if necessary, let more heads roll to clean up the air force.

Mr. Pastrana may have more success in this than his predecessor did in busting the Cali cartel. He has a powerful new tool: extradition. A law introduced last year makes all traffickers arrested after it came into force eligible for extradition to the United States. Because the law is not retroactive this puts the mobsters already in jail out of America's reach – a loophole about which American officials have vehemently complained.

Colombians have always been keen – sometimes with reason to blame an American conspiracy for the latest surreal twist in their drugs wars. Some claimed to see gringo involvement in the recent prison killings. Speculation intensified last week when an agent from America's Drug Enforcement Administration was shot dead outside a fashionable Bogota nightspot. Police say the murder – the first killing of a DEA agent in Colombia – was the result of a bar-room brawl and had nothing to do with the current spate of drugs violence. Tell that to the conspiracy theorists!

Vocabulary notes

§ Words and Grammar

a Match the English and Russian equivalents:

b Choose the synonyms from the box:

lately....................................... nearly............................................

on that occasion.................... within...........................................

this time............................... since............................................

с Choose the antonyms from the box:

predecessor........................... retreat.....................................

gringo.................................... success.....................................

resignation............................. war..........................................

d Underline the basic nouns in the following word combinations and translate them into Russian (usually starting with the last word):

Colombia's drugs police... Полиция Колумбии по борьбе с наркотиками...............

narcotic trade's tight grip.................................................................................................

a Colombian Air Force plane..........................................................................................

a United Nations meeting................................................................................................

America's Drug Enforcement Administration................................................................

the recent prison killings................................................................................................

a bar-room brawl............................................................................................................

e Choose the correct prepositions and write down a short sentence with each word-combination:

to find drugs at/on air-force aircraft

to discover heroine at/on the plane

to be detained at/by the attorney-general's office

to come in/into force

eligible for/to extradition from/of the USA

this puts the mobsters out of/off America's reach

f Encircle the predicates, write down in what forms the verbs are used and complete the sentences:

1 The drug police lately had another reminder of..............................................................................................

2 It is not the first time drugs have been found within.......................................................................................

3 Six of his men have been.................................................................................................................................

4 Mr. Pastrana may have more success in this than his predecessor did in busting............................................

5 Colombians have always been keen to blame..................................................................................................

g Group the following words and word combinations into a few logical units and fill in the table:

h Explain the meaning of the following words and word combinations in English and give Russian equivalents:

a retroactive law......................... to beat a humiliating retreat....................................

a loophole................................... the narcotic trade's tight grip on.............................

to be out of smb's reach.............. the country..............................................................

a drug-trafficking ring................ to be keen to blame an American............................

.................................................... conspiracy...............................................................