Trump, Petro Strike Softer Tone as Coca Fight Persists (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: President Trump and his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro appear to have smoothed over their differences in a meeting at the White House. Both leaders said their discussions were positive with a focus on stopping illegal drug trafficking and the lifting of sanctions imposed by the US last year. It followed months of mutual insults on social media after the Colombian leader criticised American policies last year. While Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine and accounts for around 70% of global supply. Last month Donald Trump called Colombia's leader a sick man who likes selling cocaine to the US. While President Petro said his government has seized large amounts. Our senior international correspondent Orla Gowin joined Colombia's anti-narcotics police, the Jungle Commandos, on the front line of their war on drugs.

[00:00:52] Speaker 2: Locked and loaded and heading into the Colombian Amazon on board Black Hawk helicopters. These Jungle Commandos are an elite police unit, armed by the Americans, originally trained by the SAS. Below us, fertile ground for Colombia's evergreen crop. Coca leaves now cover an area almost twice the size of Greater London. And the commandos often face resistance from criminal gangs and guerrillas who control the drug trade. President Trump says Colombia must try harder. The war on drugs goes back decades here. Still, cocaine production has reached record highs. We've just landed in part of the cocaine heartland of Colombia. These police commandos are operating here day after day, carrying out missions, but it can be risky. The aim is to be on the ground for the shortest time possible, no more than 10 or 15 minutes. The target, a makeshift lab with piles of coca leaves, the raw material for cocaine. The crop and the chemicals go up in flames. Mission accomplished for now, but we're told there are dozens more labs in this area alone. The commander has been fighting this war for 16 years and has no illusions. Today, if you destroy a drug lab, a factory to produce cocaine, how quickly can they build another one?

[00:02:47] Speaker 3: In one day.

[00:02:51] Speaker 4: It's just a matter of changing location or moving by a few meters. We've seen it before. Sometimes when we return to areas where operations have taken place, we find structures have been rebuilt just a few meters away.

[00:03:07] Speaker 2: Colombia's cocaine trail stretches from the Amazon to the peaks of the Andes. You don't come here unannounced. There are two guerrilla groups in this area, both willing to kill for control of drug turf. In Catatumbo, near the border with Venezuela, bright green coca plants cling to the slopes. We meet two local farmers who we cannot name. This man, who we're calling Javier, has five daughters. He says they are the most beautiful gift God has given him. But he knows his crop could kill someone else's children. Do you ever think about the end result of what you are producing?

[00:04:04] Speaker 5: The truth is, yes, we know. Sometimes you do think about it, but if you want to survive, you don't. There are no opportunities for us with this government.

[00:04:19] Speaker 2: Nearby, his concealed lab, a small corner of a global trade. Javier says if Donald Trump wants to stop the flow of cocaine, he should send financial support, not troops. Orleguiran, BBC News, Catatumbo, Colombia.