Cartagena is identified as the point from which Art Keller and his escort travel by helicopter to Puerto Asís, placing the city at the edge of an operation focused on Colombia’s drug trade and the proposed Plan Colombia aid package.

Role in the Colombia Mission

Art is in Colombia on an information-gathering mission for the Vertical Committee, amid efforts by the DEA, CIA, and White House to build congressional support for Plan Colombia. The proposed $1.7 billion package is aimed at destroying the cocaine trade at its source in the coca fields of the Putumayo district. From Cartagena, Art and his escort take a helicopter south to Puerto Asís on the Putumayo River.

Narrative Significance

The brief reference makes Cartagena a point of departure rather than a developed setting: the narrative moves from the city by air toward the river and jungle communities where the consequences of the proposed campaign become more immediate. The journey connects high-level policy debate about aircraft and defoliants with Art’s encounter on the ground with a young soldier escorting him.