In the case of the Spanish-language soap opera Kassandra, the best drama is taking place off screen.

At the request of the U.S. State Department, the Miami company that distributes the Venezuelan telenovela has donated all 150 episodes to a destitute network in Bosnia in order to help maintain peace in the war-torn country.

Seems a couple of weeks ago in the city of Banja Luka, supporters of Bosnian Serb president Biljana Plavsic took over a local television station in the middle of an episode of the top-rated Kassandra. The station was part of a network in the neighboring town of Pale run by hard-line supporters of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who has been indicted for War crimes.

Banja Luka viewers addicted to the story of a gypsy fortune teller and her lover were incensed, assuming that the Pale hard-liners had cut them off. Although Plavsic supporters had the station back on the air within hours, they were left without any episodes of Kassandra.

State Department began to fear the disruption would destabilize the Plavsic government. 

HOT: Coraima Torres and Osvaldo Ríos of "Kassandra"

So U.S. diplomats sent word to the Venezueian ambassador, who contacted Coral Pictures in Miami with a message to get Kassandra back on the air immediately at the pro-Plavsic station.

It was a message that confused executives at Coral. The show had never been sold to any Bosnian station. Instead, it was being stolen. every evening from neighboring Belgrade and retransmitted illegally into Bosnia and Herzegovinia.

A minor detail, the State Department replied.

"They wanted Kassandra back on as soon as possible, and the station can’t afford anything," said Coral executive vice president Antonio Paez. "So we’ve decided to donate the novela until a future date when we can get paid. But we’re not counting on it."