With Colombian military snipers in position, Howard Buffett descends from a helicopter and trudges through the wet grass in steel-toe boots chewed through by his dog's teeth.
Waiting under a tin-roofed shack is a small group of coca farmers. They have never heard of multibillionaire investor Warren Buffett, but after decades of neglect by their own government they are grateful for the outstretched hand of his eldest son, who they refer to simply as "the gringo."
"There's a saying here: The less you know, the better," said Ruben Morantes, his leathery skin and calloused hands a testament to a lifetime of tillage in one of Colombia's most dangerous territories, where outsiders are traditionally mistrusted.
For nearly two decades Howard Buffett has crisscrossed the world giving away part of his father's fortune to promote food security, conflict mitigation and public safety, but his latest gamble is one of the most daunting yet: Helping Colombia kick its cocaine curse.
He is focusing on Tibu, heart of the remote, notoriously lawless Catatumbo region bordering Venezuela where Howard Buffett accompanied Colombian President Ivan Duque.
Tibu has the second-largest coca crop in all of Colombia — 11,400 hectares, according to the UN. Drug production as well as violence has skyrocketed in the area since armed groups filled the void left by retreating rebels who signed a peace deal with the government in 2016.
The Howard G. Buffett Foundation has committed to spending US$200 million over the next few years to transform the impoverished municipality into a model of comprehensive state building. Plans include strengthening security forces and helping farmers secure land titles and to substitute coca — the raw material for cocaine — with licit crops like cacao.
The first component is building 300km of roads to connect the municipality's 37,000 residents for the first time with national and international markets.
It is a challenge made more difficult by lurking guerrillas who last year detonated a homemade bomb as army engineers were working on the road, killing five people and injuring several.
"The only way we have confidence that farmers can grow legal crops is if they can get those crops to market," Howard Buffett told farmers during a visit last month with Duque to La Gabarra, a rural outpost in Tibu.
It was the first time any Colombian president had visited the blood-soaked hamlet.
The plan envisions subsidies and training for farmers as they switch crops, as well as helping them find buyers. It also aims to strengthen infrastructure for local law enforcement.
However, some experts worry Howard Buffett's enthusiasm for speeding Colombia's development is no match for entrenched corruption in rural areas run like political fiefdoms.
There is also the challenge posed by thousands of Venezuelan migrants who lack roots in the community and are being targeted for recruitment by criminal gangs.
A lot is riding on Howard Buffett's investment.
Not since the start of the US-led Plan Colombia two decades ago have so many resources converged on a single geographical area, said Alvaro Balcazar, who helped the government negotiate with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia the section of the peace deal focusing on illicit crops.
"There's no precedent for something on such large a scale," Balcazar said. "But the region is strategic for consolidating peace in Colombia."