I wanted to be on the side of good, to get to a place where I could make a difference
As told to Rivka Streicher by Chaya and Chaim Bisker
AS a kid, walking to school in Bogotá, Colombia, I’d often stagger through ground destroyed by bombs with debris from buildings and scorched grass underfoot.
This was the 1980s, the height of the narco era (narcotraficantes is Spanish for drug traffickers), notably the notorious Medellín and Cali Cartels. When we turned on the radio, we heard reports of bombings, assassinations, and disappearances. Fear was rampant. These drug lords would stop at nothing, using ruthlessness and corruption to build their empires through the cocaine trade. They used violence to intimidate the government and law enforcers, ensuring they remained at the top of Colombian hierarchy.
And this wasn’t some abstract battle fought in the halls of power; the streets were the narcos’ battleground. Their tanks roared on local roads. I remember attacks on city buildings, terror attacks on planes. I grew up in a world of life and death, and I was afraid and confused, carrying existential questions inside.
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