Bolivia’s Diabla Cine and Mexico’s We Are Not Zombies collaborate on “The Paradise” (“El Paraiso”). The series, selected for the next edition of Latin America’s Main Market Ventana Sur (December 1-5), is based on more than 30 years of research documenting how cocaine became a political and military tool across Latin America.
The series traces the hidden alliances between governments, intelligence agencies, and criminal networks that shaped the origins of the drug trade as a system of power. It features real-life testimonies and interviews with key witnesses and experts led by Theo Ronken, whose decades of research form the backbone of the story. The program will also feature informants directly involved in historical events, many of whom have served sentences for drug trafficking in the United States.
“The Paradise” was created by Claudio Araya Silva and produced by Diabla Cine and We Are Not Zombies’ Ramiro Medina Flores and Silva. Silva will also direct and write the show along with Ronken. The first production phase is scheduled to begin in September 2026, with filming to take place in Bolivia, Mexico and the United States. The series is currently in development, with post-production expected to be completed in early 2028.
In an interview with Variety, Silva said the co-production was a “natural outcome” of a more than 15-year creative relationship that began at the Morelia Film Festival and was “underpinned by a shared vision to make critical films with social impact.”
“This project represents an opportunity to connect these trajectories, centering on the research that Theo Ronken has been working on for over 30 years since we have known each other,” the producer added. “Its relevance lies in filling a gap in the global narrative on drug trafficking. While Mexico faces structural violence and Bolivia seeks to legitimize anti-drug policies, the decisive role of the United States in this system is rarely addressed. This alliance therefore becomes a strategic convergence of three perspectives that seeks to challenge the dominant narrative and propose collective responsibility and a broader consideration of the geopolitical dynamics that underpin this global conflict. ”
Silva said “The Paradise” is not about the glamor of the drug trade, but about the machinery behind it, the alliance that rewrote the continent’s reality. He said it is a political investigation filmed with the intimacy of a personal diary and the precision of a historical archive.
Producer Ramiro Medina Flores echoed that sentiment, saying, “We’ve seen countless stories about drug trafficking from the outside.” “‘The Paradise’ tells it from inside Latin America, through the eyes of those who lived there and the archives that prove it. This is a series built on truth, not myth.”
Diabla Cine, based in Bolivia, is committed to developing documentaries that preserve Latin American history and culture, highlighting the hidden and forgotten stories that are essential to understanding our present.
WANZ Films is part of We Are Not Zombies, a creative network founded in Mexico City that produces films, documentaries and community-driven projects across Latin America. Since 2013, we have been building bridges between art, activism, and film, producing work that has been shown around the world, from Mexico to São Paulo to New York to Cannes.
