The US spends almost $5B a year attempting to intercept shipments of illegal drugs from Central America, but despite the enormous outlay, the quantities of cocaine delivered to the country have continued to rise. A new study comes to drastic results...

The Border Patrol (tens of thousands of federal police agents who constitute the law enforcement force arm of US Border and Customs Protection) want to have free access to Greyhound vehicles. Greyhound says they are legally bound to let these federal police onto their buses. The ACLU and other civil rights groups disagree. They point out that Greyhound DOES have the right to refuse entry to Border Patrol agents under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.

The Colombian military and FARC rebels stopped fighting three years ago. But there has been no peace for former FARC combatants and social leaders. Murders have continued--even skyrocketed--since the 2016 peace agreement. The worst hit have been those who sought to put the peace treaty into practice and implement the announced reforms -- many of which greatly displeased large landowners, ranchers and entrepreneurs. Hundreds of activists, local leaders and small farmer representatives have been shot and killed-- precisely those people that FARC had spent decades standing up for. Danilo Alvizú-- wearing camo pants, a Che Guevara T-shirt and rubber boots--says he's disillusioned. He also feels betrayed by a government that promised to treat the former guerrillas well and integrate them into society. Alvizú is now the commander of a newly mobilized combat unit of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). DER SPIEGEL visited a FARC training camp deep in the jungle.

Nidiria Ruiz Medina defends collective territorial rights and identity through a gender approach. Despite the risks that this victimized population confronts—resisting a complex reality of conflict, exclusion, marginalization and historical state abandonment—Nidiria believes the Colombian Peace Agreement has helped reaffirm the rootedness of the land and spurred dreams of hope.

Colombia is a country which is greatly affected by U.S. engagement and foreign policy in Latin America. This is frighteningly visible in these statistics.