White Cargo

Acknowledgments

I HAD THE HELP OF MANY PEOPLE IN RESEARCHING THIS book. Among them, I am particularly grateful to: Robert Coram, for sharing his knowledge of Colombia and his contacts with me; John Ford, for the same; Tom Susman, once again, for sharing his knowledge of Washington; Nancy Soververg, of Senator Edward Kennedy’s office, for introductions to helpful people; Lee Peters, of the State Department, for his advice about Colombia and for introductions at the American Embassy in Bogotá; Dr. Jose M. Vergara-Castro, president of Asociación Colombiana de Aviación Civil General, for his kind assistance in finding and renting an airplane; Rodrigo V. Martinez Torres, for a superb tour of Cartegena, especially the Old City, and for sharing his knowledge, as a lawyer, of the Colombian drug trade; Maribel Porras Gil, for her services as copilot, radio operator, navigator, interpreter, liaison with the Colombian Police, and especially, for her good company; Candis Cunningham, Press Attaché at the American Embassy in Bogotá, for introductions, advice of all sorts, and for a lifetime supply of the best Colombian coffee; Morris Jacobs, Cultural Affairs Officer, and Teresa Bocanegra, adviser to the U.S. Ambassador on Colombian Law, for their advice; John Stallman, head of the Narcotics Assistance Unit in the Bogotá embassy, now in happy retirement in Florida, for a detailed look at the big picture of the Colombian drug trade; Maria Arango, for enlightening conversations about Colombian life; Lt. Col. David Mason, Air Attaché at the Bogotá embassy, for his advice about flying in Colombia; Bill, the Colombian-American taxi driver in Cali, for the grand tour and inside knowledge; Dan Spader, Sr., of Maule Air, Inc., for a hair-raising ride in a Maule Lunar Rocket; Gibson Amstutz, for his knowledge of drug-trade flying; and especially, Mark Sutherland, who was brave enough to fly all over Colombia with me, for his good company; and Agent Gregory Lee of the Drug Enforcement Agency, for information on how the Agency operates.

I am also most grateful to: my editor Laurie Lister, for her sharp eye and unerring ear, and her assistant, Scott Corngold, for keeping things moving; Michael Korda, for his enthusiasm; my agent, Mort Janklow, his associate, Anne Sibbald, and everyone at Morton Janklow Associates for their faith and hard work on my behalf.

While I received briefings and advice from many people in official positions, they cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of any statement in this novel, or for any view I may have formed and transmitted in the book. It is the responsibility of the novelist to be plausible, not accurate, and I have bent all sorts of information to my own uses in order to tell a story.

Finally, I must apologize to my friend Ben Fuller for borrowing his appearance for my most awful character.

Author’s Note

I am aware that White Cargo is also the name of a 1942 movie starring Hedy Lamarr and which seems to be chiefly remembered for her deathless line, “I am Tondelayo,” which, as Pauline Kael says, “...served a generation of female impersonators.” It was too good a title to pass up.

There has been a sad side to writing this book, in that things are as bad in Colombia as I have made them out to be — maybe worse — and they don’t look like they’re getting better. Colombia, a country of great natural beauty and kind and lovely people, is under a siege laid down by the drug dealers. One can only hope that the courage of the people and the government will endure until these vermin have been imprisoned or expelled, or until they have exterminated themselves.

I hope one day to return to a Colombia at peace with itself.