Although I did meet one man - a former coca grower who has now switched entirely to growing cocoa, instead of coca - who admitted that in his former life, he did make a very good living.
He spent his ill-gotten gains, he told me, on gambling and drinking and women. Now, as a solid law-abiding citizen, with three jail terms behind him, he says he spends his more modest income on looking after his family.
"I do not have as much money as I used to have," he said. "But I sleep better at night. I do not have to worry any more about the police knocking on my door."