Impetuous – The Odyssey of a Solitary Man

This blog entry is about my novel “Impetuous – The Odyssey of a Solitary Man” (ISBN 978-3-7528-4283-8). The German version is available under the title “Ungestüm – Die Odyssee eines Einzelgängers” (ISBN 978-3-7528-2401-8).

The media has a sheer endless fascination with the topic of the illicit drug trade. Regular news reports of journalists and correspondents with alleged “insider” knowledge, as well as TV series and major release movies have been described by real insiders as amounting to a steaming pile of bovine faeces that serves to obfuscate the devastating reality of the situation. When one listens to and learns from retired or active agents of drug enforcement agencies as well as the representatives of various drug rehabilitation organisations or for that matter former or active drug dealers, it becomes clear that the reports promulgated by the media, to put it mildly, are flawed. The figures of drug shipments, drug consumption, and drug dollars simply don’t add up when compared to official numbers released by organisations such as the DEA and its international peers. Therefore, it was revealing to learn from an original source about the developments and changes of the drug trade.

Quite a few years before I even thought of writing my book, there were are couple of reports that puzzled me and awoke my interest to investigate what was commonly called the drug war in Colombia. The first was about the use of the coca leaf by the natives of Bolivia to cope with the problems of living and working in the extreme high altitudes of the Andes. It stated that of the nineteen species of coca plants only three actually produce the cocaine alkaloid. These three species grow and are cultivated mainly in Bolivia, only a small percentage in Peru and Ecuador, and none in Colombia. So, one could conclude that the three countries that produce the base material for the production of cocaine should be involved in a drug war, but they are not. Why? The answer can be found in the social structure of these countries. In Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador the cultivation, harvest, and shipment of coca leaves is in the hands of the relatively rich land barons who pursue this business as a side line for some extra income.

In Colombia, in contrast, the production and shipment of cocaine that is now managed by the second and third generation of drug barons was firmly in the hands of people like Escobar and the Ochoa brothers who came from the lowest echelon of society and made billions of dollars with the drug trade. When the thousand families, the mil familias as they are called in Colombia, the upper echelon of society that own most of the land and control practically all productive sectors became aware that these social climbers, these parvenus had suddenly more money and wealth at their disposal than they ever had, they wanted their share. But when Escobar, instead of shovelling millions into their pockets, gave them the middle finger in response they called on their personal bodyguards, the military and the police, and declared war. Yet, that did not prevent the government and the country’s security forces to cooperate with Escobar’s Medellin cartel as long as it suited them to allegedly kill kidnappers and fight other drug dealing organisations that had arisen in the regions of Calí and the Valle del Norte. In short, the so-called “drug war” was not and still is not about drugs – it is about money. All the more reason for the drug barons to build and then disappear into a global network of legal companies to carry out the production of not just cocaine but a whole range of illicit drugs and its shipment to any market that craved the addictive products. Since a range of tax havens provide the registration of letter box companies and welcome the deposit of billions of drug dollars into their banks without asking any questions about the source of the money, these second and third generation drug baron companies are difficult to trace and virtually impossible to be associated with the drug trade.

That’s what my book is all about, namely how the second generation of Colombian drug lords managed to build a global empire and control the majority of the drug trade. It is in the first instance the story of the man who had the original idea and due to the misunderstanding of it almost paid with his life for presenting it to the first generation of drug lords.

Please be aware that the story covers a period of the early 1990s. The production and range of drugs has changed considerably since then as has the concealment and shipping. So, don’t be impressed when you read about the capture of a homemade submarine with a ton of cocaine, drugs concealed in bananas and shipments of tropical fruit pulp, or the detection of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl in the insulation of a refrigerated container. These are outdated methods still pursued by minor upstarts in the trade who don’t know any better. Also, the capture of drugs by the ton should not impress you. According to reliable figures of various drug administrations, whatever total amount of illicit drugs of any kind is captured in a year never amounts to more than five percent of what is actually consumed in any of the recipient countries. Go figure!

Here follows a review of the book by a literary critic from the UK:

Review of T.S.Aguilar’s “Impetuous – The Odyssey of a Solitary Man” (German version: “Ungestüm – Die Odyssee eines Einzelgängers”)

The novel “Impetuous” is subtitled “The Odyssey of a Solitary Man” and covers about 5 years of the life of a Colombian drug dealer operating initially in Central America. It follows his downfall first and then his upwardly mobile career. This “warts & all” protagonist appears to be fictional, but his story is evidently based on his account, known facts, and some conjecture involving the latter life of Pablo Escobar.

The story involves a lot of logistics, in the form of facts & figures regarding the drug trade, profits, methods of transit and concealment, distribution of the product etc.  This technical content is of great interest, particularly for the uninitiated.

Later in the book, after some character exploration and development, the odyssey reveals its pivotal point, and ultimately, we see how the protagonist turns against the immorality of the activity that he helped to create and in which he is actually involved. He deals with it in his own distinct way in fact.

The novel is tersely well-written, with authentic dialogue in the vernacular and has a muted and subtle political message at the end.

The widespread corruption among the so-called agencies of detection and control agencies against the drug barons is very well narrated, and the U.S. led “war on drugs” is exposed as a hypocritical shell of an operation. There are some excellently described cameo characters here to reinforce the point.

I much enjoyed reading the 300 pages and will certainly keep track of this author’s other and yet-to-come output!