Cocaine & heroin cartels (late 1970s-Present)[edit]
See also: The Office of Envigado
With prohibition, established producers and traffickers formed armed and clandestine cartels. During the 1980s, as demand increased, the cartels expanded and organized into major criminal conglomerates usually headed by one or several kingpins as in the case of the Medellín Cartel and the North Coast Cartel, along with federation-style groups such as the Cali Cartel and Norte del Valle Cartel.
Medellín Cartel (1976–1993)[edit]
Main article: Medellín Cartel
The Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar established a ruthless organization, kidnapping or murdering those who interfered with its objectives. The Medellín Cartel was responsible for the murders of hundreds of people, including government officials, politicians, law enforcement members, journalists, relatives of same, and innocent bystanders. The cartel sometimes cooperated with guerrilla groups such as the M-19, to process and protect illegal drugs. When conflicts emerged between the Medellín Cartel and the guerrillas, the cartel also promoted the creation of paramilitary groups.
The cartel originally imported most coca from Bolivia and Peru, processing it into cocaine inside Colombia and then distributing it through most of the trafficking routes and distribution points in the U.S., including Florida, California and New York.
The pressure mounted by the US and Colombian governments to counter them led to the cartel's destruction, with key associates being gunned down by police and military forces or turning themselves in to authorities in exchange for lenient prison terms.[18]
Cali Cartel (1977−1998)[edit]
Main article: Cali Cartel
The Cali Cartel, also known as "Cali's Gentlemen," was based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca Department. The Cali Cartel was founded by the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers, Gilberto and Miguel, as well as associate José Santacruz Londoño. The Cali Cartel originally began as a ring of kidnappers known as Las Chemas. The profits of kidnapping helped finance the ring's move to drug trafficking, originally beginning in Marijuana and eventually spreading to cocaine. The cartel's estimated revenue would eventually reach an estimated $7 billion a year.[19][20][21]
The cartel's influence also spread to the political and justice system. It also played a role in the manhunt that led to the death of Pablo Escobar, helping form the vigilante group "Los Pepes", which worked alongside members of the government's elite Bloque de Busqueda, exchanging information on the whereabouts of Escobar and key figures in the Medellín Cartel.
After the collapse of the cartel, it was discovered it was wiretapping phone calls made into and out of Bogotá,[22][23] and was engaged in money laundering using numerous front companies spread throughout Colombia.
Norte del Valle Cartel[edit]
Main article: Norte del Valle Cartel
The Norte del Valle Cartel, or North Valley Cartel, is a drug cartel which operates principally in the north of the Valle del Cauca department of Colombia. It rose to prominence during the second half of the 1990s, after the Cali Cartel and the Medellín Cartel fragmented, and was known as one of the most powerful organizations in the illegal drugs trade. The chiefs of the Norte del Valle cartel included Diego León Montoya Sánchez, Wilber Varela and Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía. Of the original leaders of the cartel, Wilber Varela was the last remaining member being sought by the authorities, but was found dead on January 31, 2008.[citation needed]
The Norte del Valle cartel is estimated to have exported more than 1.2 million pounds – or 500 metric tons – of cocaine worth in excess of $10 billion from Colombia to Mexico and ultimately to the United States for resale in past year. Indictments filed in the United States charge the Norte del Valle cartel with using violence and brutality to further its goals, including the murder of rivals, individuals who failed to pay for cocaine, and associates who were believed to be working as informants. This illegal drug is one of Colombia's main exports even though it's illegal.
Leaders of the Norte del Valle cartel were further alleged to have bribed and corrupted Colombian law enforcement and Colombian legislators to, among other things, attempt to block the extradition of Colombian narcotics traffickers to the United States for further prosecution. According to the indictments filed in the United States, members of the Norte del Valle cartel even conducted their own wiretaps in Colombia to intercept the communications of rival drug traffickers and Colombian and United States law enforcement officials.
The cartel is believed to have employed the services of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a right-wing paramilitary organization internationally classified as a terrorist organization, to protect the cartel’s drug routes, its drug laboratories, and its members and associates. The AUC is one of the 37 Foreign Terrorist Organizations identified by the U.S. State Department in 2004.
North Coast Cartel[edit]
Main article: North Coast Cartel
The North Coast Cartel was based in the Colombian city of Barranquilla by the Caribbean coast and was headed by Alberto Orlandez-Gamboa "Caracol" (the snail) considered as ruthless as Pablo Escobar. The organization transshipped significant amounts of cocaine to the United States and Europe via the smuggling routes it controlled from Colombia’s North Coast through the Caribbean. As head of the organization, Gamboa depended on his close associates to conduct the organization’s operations and to insulate himself.[24]
As is typical with many Colombia-based organizations, Gamboa compartmentalized his business dealings. In addition, the success of Caracol’s Barranquilla-based drug trafficking organization was attributed, in part, to the respect the drug organization received from other traffickers operating on Colombia’s North Coast. DEA Intelligence indicated that traffickers paid taxes to Gamboa’s organization in order to be allowed to ship drugs out of the North Coast. His influence in this region was so strong that traffickers even asked him for permission before conducting assassinations.[24]
On June 6, 1998, Caracol was arrested in Barranquilla, as a result of an ongoing joint investigation between DEA’s Barranquilla Resident Office and the Colombian National Police. After his arrest, Caracol immediately was flown to Bogota, Colombia, where he was held on murder, kidnapping, and terrorism charges. He was extradited to the United States in August 2000. On March 13, 2003, Caracol pleaded guilty to participating in a narcotics trafficking conspiracy that smuggled tens of thousands of kilograms of cocaine into New York and other cities. His plea was announced on the morning he was to go on trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan after losing a crucial appellate ruling.[24] With the capture of Gamboa the North Coast Cartel structure was later dismantled by the Colombian National Police.[25]
Successor criminal organizations (2006-Present)[edit]
New paramilitary groups and related drug trafficking organizations that have continued operating after the AUC demobilization process are referred to as bandas criminales emergentes[26][27] or BACRIM (Spanish for "emerging criminal organizations") by the Colombian government.[28]
Until 2011 Colombia remained the world's largest cocaine producer,[3] Since 2003 Human Rights Watch stated that according to their Colombian intelligence sources "40 percent of the country's total cocaine exports" were controlled by this paramilitaries.[29][30][31][32][33] And in 2011 an independent investigation made by the Colombian newspaper "El Tiempo" estimated that 50% of all Colombian cocaine was controlled by the same BACRIM groups.[34][35]
According to the Colombian National Police, these groups had 3,749 members by July 2010.[36] The NGO Instituto de Estudios para el Desarrollo y la Paz has indicated they would have approximately 6,000 armed combatants.[36] Others estimate their ranks may include up to 10,000 people.[28][37]
The successor groups are often made up of mid-level paramilitary commanders and criminal structures that either did not demobilize in the first place or were re-activated after the demobilizations had concluded.[36][37] Many demobilized paramilitaries received recruitment offers, were threatened into joining the new organizations or have simultaneously rearmed and remained in government reintegration programs. New recruits have also come from traditional areas for paramilitary recruitment.[37]
The main emerging criminal and paramilitary organizations are known as:
The Black Eagles
Los Rastrojos
Los Urabeños
Los Paisas [38]
Los Machos[39][40]
Los Gaitanistas[41]
Renacer[39]
Nueva Generación[37]
ERPAC (Popular Revolutionary Antiterrorist Army of Colombia) [42]
Bloque Meta
Libertadores del Vichada
Ejército Popular de Liberación (Formerly considered a guerrilla movement, as of 2013 considered a drug cartel.)[43]
The Office of Envigado ( former enforcement wing for the Medellín Cartel that inherited their turf and business connections )[44][45]
These groups continue to be involved in the drug trade, commit widespread human rights abuses, engage in forced displacement and undermine democratic legitimacy in other ways, both in collusion with and opposition to FARC-EP guerrillas.[28][36][46] Their targets have included human rights defenders, labor unionists and victims of the former AUC. Members of government security forces have also been accused of tolerating their growth.[36][46]
In December 2010, ERPAC paramilitary leader Pedro Guerrero, also known as Cuchillo or "Knife", died after a police raid.[47][48]
Extradition treaty with the US[edit]
Perhaps the greatest threat posed to the Medellín Cartel and the other traffickers was the implementation of an extradition t
Cocaine & heroin cartels (late 1970s-Present)[edit]
See also: The Office of Envigado
With prohibition, established producers and traffickers formed armed and clandestine cartels. During the 1980s, as demand increased, the cartels expanded and organized into major criminal conglomerates usually headed by one or several kingpins as in the case of the Medellín Cartel and the North Coast Cartel, along with federation-style groups such as the Cali Cartel and Norte del Valle Cartel.
Medellín Cartel (1976–1993)[edit]
Main article: Medellín Cartel
The Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar established a ruthless organization, kidnapping or murdering those who interfered with its objectives. The Medellín Cartel was responsible for the murders of hundreds of people, including government officials, politicians, law enforcement members, journalists, relatives of same, and innocent bystanders. The cartel sometimes cooperated with guerrilla groups such as the M-19, to process and protect illegal drugs. When conflicts emerged between the Medellín Cartel and the guerrillas, the cartel also promoted the creation of paramilitary groups.
The cartel originally imported most coca from Bolivia and Peru, processing it into cocaine inside Colombia and then distributing it through most of the trafficking routes and distribution points in the U.S., including Florida, California and New York.
The pressure mounted by the US and Colombian governments to counter them led to the cartel's destruction, with key associates being gunned down by police and military forces or turning themselves in to authorities in exchange for lenient prison terms.[18]
Cali Cartel (1977−1998)[edit]
Main article: Cali Cartel
The Cali Cartel, also known as "Cali's Gentlemen," was based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca Department. The Cali Cartel was founded by the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers, Gilberto and Miguel, as well as associate José Santacruz Londoño. The Cali Cartel originally began as a ring of kidnappers known as Las Chemas. The profits of kidnapping helped finance the ring's move to drug trafficking, originally beginning in Marijuana and eventually spreading to cocaine. The cartel's estimated revenue would eventually reach an estimated $7 billion a year.[19][20][21]
The cartel's influence also spread to the political and justice system. It also played a role in the manhunt that led to the death of Pablo Escobar, helping form the vigilante group "Los Pepes", which worked alongside members of the government's elite Bloque de Busqueda, exchanging information on the whereabouts of Escobar and key figures in the Medellín Cartel.
After the collapse of the cartel, it was discovered it was wiretapping phone calls made into and out of Bogotá,[22][23] and was engaged in money laundering using numerous front companies spread throughout Colombia.
Norte del Valle Cartel[edit]
Main article: Norte del Valle Cartel
The Norte del Valle Cartel, or North Valley Cartel, is a drug cartel which operates principally in the north of the Valle del Cauca department of Colombia. It rose to prominence during the second half of the 1990s, after the Cali Cartel and the Medellín Cartel fragmented, and was known as one of the most powerful organizations in the illegal drugs trade. The chiefs of the Norte del Valle cartel included Diego León Montoya Sánchez, Wilber Varela and Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía. Of the original leaders of the cartel, Wilber Varela was the last remaining member being sought by the authorities, but was found dead on January 31, 2008.[citation needed]
The Norte del Valle cartel is estimated to have exported more than 1.2 million pounds – or 500 metric tons – of cocaine worth in excess of $10 billion from Colombia to Mexico and ultimately to the United States for resale in past year. Indictments filed in the United States charge the Norte del Valle cartel with using violence and brutality to further its goals, including the murder of rivals, individuals who failed to pay for cocaine, and associates who were believed to be working as informants. This illegal drug is one of Colombia's main exports even though it's illegal.
Leaders of the Norte del Valle cartel were further alleged to have bribed and corrupted Colombian law enforcement and Colombian legislators to, among other things, attempt to block the extradition of Colombian narcotics traffickers to the United States for further prosecution. According to the indictments filed in the United States, members of the Norte del Valle cartel even conducted their own wiretaps in Colombia to intercept the communications of rival drug traffickers and Colombian and United States law enforcement officials.
The cartel is believed to have employed the services of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a right-wing paramilitary organization internationally classified as a terrorist organization, to protect the cartel’s drug routes, its drug laboratories, and its members and associates. The AUC is one of the 37 Foreign Terrorist Organizations identified by the U.S. State Department in 2004.
North Coast Cartel[edit]
Main article: North Coast Cartel
The North Coast Cartel was based in the Colombian city of Barranquilla by the Caribbean coast and was headed by Alberto Orlandez-Gamboa "Caracol" (the snail) considered as ruthless as Pablo Escobar. The organization transshipped significant amounts of cocaine to the United States and Europe via the smuggling routes it controlled from Colombia’s North Coast through the Caribbean. As head of the organization, Gamboa depended on his close associates to conduct the organization’s operations and to insulate himself.[24]
As is typical with many Colombia-based organizations, Gamboa compartmentalized his business dealings. In addition, the success of Caracol’s Barranquilla-based drug trafficking organization was attributed, in part, to the respect the drug organization received from other traffickers operating on Colombia’s North Coast. DEA Intelligence indicated that traffickers paid taxes to Gamboa’s organization in order to be allowed to ship drugs out of the North Coast. His influence in this region was so strong that traffickers even asked him for permission before conducting assassinations.[24]
On June 6, 1998, Caracol was arrested in Barranquilla, as a result of an ongoing joint investigation between DEA’s Barranquilla Resident Office and the Colombian National Police. After his arrest, Caracol immediately was flown to Bogota, Colombia, where he was held on murder, kidnapping, and terrorism charges. He was extradited to the United States in August 2000. On March 13, 2003, Caracol pleaded guilty to participating in a narcotics trafficking conspiracy that smuggled tens of thousands of kilograms of cocaine into New York and other cities. His plea was announced on the morning he was to go on trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan after losing a crucial appellate ruling.[24] With the capture of Gamboa the North Coast Cartel structure was later dismantled by the Colombian National Police.[25]
Successor criminal organizations (2006-Present)[edit]
New paramilitary groups and related drug trafficking organizations that have continued operating after the AUC demobilization process are referred to as bandas criminales emergentes[26][27] or BACRIM (Spanish for "emerging criminal organizations") by the Colombian government.[28]
Until 2011 Colombia remained the world's largest cocaine producer,[3] Since 2003 Human Rights Watch stated that according to their Colombian intelligence sources "40 percent of the country's total cocaine exports" were controlled by this paramilitaries.[29][30][31][32][33] And in 2011 an independent investigation made by the Colombian newspaper "El Tiempo" estimated that 50% of all Colombian cocaine was controlled by the same BACRIM groups.[34][35]
According to the Colombian National Police, these groups had 3,749 members by July 2010.[36] The NGO Instituto de Estudios para el Desarrollo y la Paz has indicated they would have approximately 6,000 armed combatants.[36] Others estimate their ranks may include up to 10,000 people.[28][37]
The successor groups are often made up of mid-level paramilitary commanders and criminal structures that either did not demobilize in the first place or were re-activated after the demobilizations had concluded.[36][37] Many demobilized paramilitaries received recruitment offers, were threatened into joining the new organizations or have simultaneously rearmed and remained in government reintegration programs. New recruits have also come from traditional areas for paramilitary recruitment.[37]
The main emerging criminal and paramilitary organizations are known as:
The Black Eagles
Los Rastrojos
Los Urabeños
Los Paisas [38]
Los Machos[39][40]
Los Gaitanistas[41]
Renacer[39]
Nueva Generación[37]
ERPAC (Popular Revolutionary Antiterrorist Army of Colombia) [42]
Bloque Meta
Libertadores del Vichada
Ejército Popular de Liberación (Formerly considered a guerrilla movement, as of 2013 considered a drug cartel.)[43]
The Office of Envigado ( former enforcement wing for the Medellín Cartel that inherited their turf and business connections )[44][45]
These groups continue to be involved in the drug trade, commit widespread human rights abuses, engage in forced displacement and undermine democratic legitimacy in other ways, both in collusion with and opposition to FARC-EP guerrillas.[28][36][46] Their targets have included human rights defenders, labor unionists and victims of the former AUC. Members of government security forces have also been accused of tolerating their growth.[36][46]
In December 2010, ERPAC paramilitary leader Pedro Guerrero, also known as Cuchillo or "Knife", died after a police raid.[47][48]
Extradition treaty with the US[edit]
Perhaps the greatest threat posed to the Medellín Cartel and the other traffickers was the implementation of an extradition t
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