| Director | Aaron Norris |
|---|---|
| Budget | $16 million |
| Box office | $6.7 million |
Narcoterrorist and cartel boss Ramón Cota (Billy Drago) controls the cocaine industry with an iron fist. His drugs pour steadily into the United States, corrupting the country's youth and causing a feud between the DEA and San Carlos, Cota's country of origin.
During a carnival in Rio de Janeiro, an undercover task force led by several DEA agents conducts surveillance on a private party that Cota is attending. The surveillance team is ambushed and massacred by Cota's hitmen, who are masquerading as carnival performers. Following the Rio operation, the DEA enlists the support of the U.S. Army's Delta Force to infiltrate San Carlos. They are aided by an undercover agent within Cota's drug cartel.
General Taylor orders Colonel Scott McCoy (Chuck Norris) and his deputy, Major Bobby Chavez (Paul Perri), to bring Cota to justice. They pose as airline passengers while Cota is en route to Geneva to deposit his drug money in a Swiss bank account and capture him during a short interval in which the plane enters U.S. airspace. Their efforts are unsuccessful, however, as Cota is able to post bail and escape. Chavez confronts Cota in court, prompting Cota to retaliate by ordering the murder of Chavez's pregnant wife.
Seeking personal revenge, Chavez attempts to pursue Cota but is captured by Cota's forces and tortured and killed. When three DEA agents attempt to capture Cota, they are taken hostage and scheduled for execution. During a press conference, a DEA spokesman explains that San Carlos's president, Alcazar, fears a coup and is therefore reluctant to crack down on the cartels, while corrupt generals benefit from the drug trade and protect Cota from extradition.
McCoy is parachuted into San Carlos and sent to rescue the hostages in a stealth operation while Taylor and the rest of the Delta Force provide surveillance. Their mission is supervised by Ernesto Flores (Mateo Gómez), a delegate from the government of San Carlos, which has entered into an agreement with the U.S. government that severely limits the scope of the operation. McCoy proceeds to scale a tall cliff and infiltrates Cota's mansion.
The government of San Carlos subsequently attempts to cancel the U.S. intervention by staging a large drug raid intended to make the American mission unnecessary. Upon learning of the deception, Taylor breaks protocol and triggers Operation Stranglehold, heading south of his perimeter in a heavily armed gunship, prompting the San Carlos army to send its own helicopters in pursuit. The gunship lands at Cota's mansion and deploys troops to destroy cocaine storehouses and laboratories. McCoy releases the hostages but is captured by Cota and placed in a chamber filled with toxic gas, isolated from him by a glass pane. Before the gas can kill McCoy, a rocket from Taylor's gunship shatters the glass, allowing him to escape.
With the help of DEA Agent Page, McCoy captures Cota in his armored limousine and flees the mansion. Cota's bodyguards and a San Carlos attack chopper pursue the vehicle and eventually bring it to a halt, but Taylor's gunship rescues them. Cota flees on foot through the jungle during the fighting. After the drug lord kills a villager who wanted revenge for the murder of her family, McCoy arrives and beats him. Cota attempts to goad McCoy into killing him, knowing that he is wanted alive.
Taylor's gunship arrives to pick up McCoy and his prisoner with ropes as the last of Cota's men close in. One swings his machete but only partially cuts Cota's rope before the gunship heads out to sea to join the American carrier fleet. Hanging beneath the helicopter, Cota continues to goad McCoy about his invulnerability, saying that once in court he will walk free again. The rope, weakened by the machete cut, eventually snaps, causing Cota to fall thousands of feet to his death.