The government says, that after 18 months of revitalized efforts to fight rebels and drug gangs, kidnappings were down 27 percent in 2003, and murders down 22 percent. But in the United States, the price of cocaine has not risen (to indicate that the supply from Colombia has been cut.) The drug cartels are taking losses, but there are billions of dollars at stake and there are always more Colombians willing to risk their lives to get rich in the drug trade. Colombia is more interested in regaining control over large chunks of the country that are basically under the administration of rebel groups. But the drug gangs work with the rebels to control rural areas used to support drug manufacture and transportation.