LA PAZ, Colombia: Customers in Lorena’s shop place innocuous white pebbles on an electronic scale. In exchange they take away staples like cooking oil and eggs—in the depths of the Colombian jungle, you pay with cocaine base paste.
“Everything is bought and sold this way. Cash is very rare and kept for emergencies,” said the 26-year-old woman, adding that in her lifetime, more white powder had passed through her hands than cash.
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