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The '''Medellín Cartel''' was an organized network of drug suppliers and smugglers originating in the city of [[Medellín]], [[Colombia]]. The [[drug cartel]] operated in [[Colombia]], [[Bolivia]], [[Peru]], [[Honduras]], the [[United States]], as well as [[Canada]] and [[Europe]] throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It was founded and run by Ochoa Vázquez brothers [[Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez|Jorge Luis]], [[Juan David Ochoa Vásquez|Juan David]], and [[Fabio Ochoa Vásquez|Fabio]] together with [[Pablo Escobar]]. By 1993, the Colombian government, in collaboration with the [[Cali Cartel]], [[Paramilitarism in Colombia|right-wing paramilitary groups]], and the [[United States government]], had successfully dismantled the cartel by imprisoning or assassinating its members. During the height of its operations, the Medellín Cartel brought at least $420,000,000 dollars in a week.{{Citation needed|date=May 2014}}
The '''Medellín Cartel''' was an organized network of drug suppliers and smugglers originating in the city of [[Medellín]], [[Colombia]]. The [[drug cartel]] operated in [[Colombia]], [[Bolivia]], [[Peru]], [[Honduras]], the [[United States]], as well as [[Canada]] and [[Europe]] throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It was founded and run by Ochoa Vázquez brothers [[Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez|Jorge Luis]], [[Juan David Ochoa Vásquez|Juan David]], and [[Fabio Ochoa Vásquez|Fabio]] together with [[Pablo Escobar]]. By 1993, the Colombian government, in collaboration with the [[Cali Cartel]], [[Paramilitarism in Colombia|right-wing paramilitary groups]], and the [[United States government]], had successfully dismantled the cartel by imprisoning or assassinating its members. During the height of its operations, the Medellín Cartel brought at least $420,000,000 in a week.{{Citation needed|date=May 2014}}


== History ==
== History ==

Revision as of 05:42, 14 May 2014

Medellín Cartel
Founded1976
Founded byPablo Escobar, Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez
Founding locationAntioquia Department, Colombia
Years active1976–1993
TerritoryColombia
EthnicityColombians and international people out of Colombia.
Criminal activitiesDrug trafficking, money laundering, assassinations, bombing, extortion, bribery, kidnapping, murder, political corruption, arms trafficking, racketeering, terrorism.
AlliesGuadalajara Cartel, Caribbean gangs.
RivalsCali Cartel, Los Pepes, and Colombian Government officials

The Medellín Cartel was an organized network of drug suppliers and smugglers originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia. The drug cartel operated in Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Honduras, the United States, as well as Canada and Europe throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It was founded and run by Ochoa Vázquez brothers Jorge Luis, Juan David, and Fabio together with Pablo Escobar. By 1993, the Colombian government, in collaboration with the Cali Cartel, right-wing paramilitary groups, and the United States government, had successfully dismantled the cartel by imprisoning or assassinating its members. During the height of its operations, the Medellín Cartel brought at least $420,000,000 in a week.[citation needed]

History

In the late 1970s, the illegal cocaine trade took off and became a major source of profit. By 1982, cocaine surpassed coffee as an export, making up 30% of all Colombian exports. Many members of the new class of wealthy drug lords began purchasing enormous quantities of land, in order to launder their drug money, and to gain social status amongst the traditional Colombian elite. By the late 1980s, drug traffickers were the largest landholders in Colombia and wielded immense political power. They used much of their land for grazing cattle, or left it completely idle as a show of wealth. They also raised private armies to fight off guerrillas who were trying to either redistribute their lands to local peasants, kidnap them, or extort the gramaje money FARC attempted to steal.[1] [2][3]

At the end of 1981 and the beginning of 1982, members of the Medellín Cartel, the Colombian military, the U.S.-based corporation Texas Petroleum, the Colombian legislature, small industrialists, and wealthy cattle ranchers came together in a series of meetings in Puerto Boyacá, and formed a paramilitary organization known as Muerte a Secuestradores ("Death to Kidnappers", MAS) to defend their economic interests, to fight against the guerrillas, and to provide protection for local elites from kidnappings and extortion.[4][5][6] By 1983, Colombian internal affairs had registered 240 political killings by MAS death squads, mostly community leaders, elected officials, and farmers.[7]

The following year, the Asociación Campesina de Ganaderos y Agricultores del Magdalena Medio ("Association of Middle Magdalena Ranchers and Farmers", ACDEGAM) was created to handle both the logistics and the public relations of the organization, and to provide a legal front for various paramilitary groups. ACDEGAM worked to promote anti-labor policies, and threatened anyone involved with organizing for labor or peasants' rights. The threats were backed up by the MAS, which would come in and attack or assassinate anyone who was suspected of being a "subversive".[4][8] ACDEGAM also built schools whose stated purpose was the creation of a "patriotic and anti-Communist" educational environment, and built roads, bridges, and health clinics. Paramilitary recruiting, weapons storage, communications, propaganda, and medical services were all run out of ACDEGAM headquarters.[8] [9]

By the mid-1980s ACDEGAM and MAS had experienced significant growth. In 1985, the powerful drug traffickers Pablo Escobar, Jorge Luis Ochoa, Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, Carlos Lehder, and Juan Matta-Ballesteros began funneling large amounts of cash into the organization to pay for weaponry, equipment and training. Money for social projects was cut off, and was put towards strengthening the MAS. Modern battle rifles such as the Galil, HK G3, FN FAL, and AKM were purchased from the military and INDUMIL and through drug-funded private sales. The organization had computers and ran a communications center that worked in coordination with the state telecommunications office. They had thirty pilots, and an assortment of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. U.S., Israeli, British military instructors were hired to teach at paramilitary training centers. [4][6][8][9][10][11]

Operations

During the height of its operations, the cartel brought in more than $60 million per day.[12] The total amount of money made by the cartel was in the tens of billions, and very possibly the hundreds of billions of dollars. There were many "groups" during the cartel's years, usually white Americans, Canadians or Europeans, organized for the sole purpose of transporting shipments of cocaine destined for the United States, Europe and Canada. While many groups were infiltrated and taken down by Federal agents and informers, a few were stumbled upon by authorities, usually due to some small misstep or careless behavior by a group member.[citation needed]

Relations with the Colombian government

Once authorities were made aware of "questionable activities", the group would be put under Federal Drug Task Force surveillance. Evidence would be gathered, compiled and presented to a Grand Jury, resulting in indictments, arrests and prison sentences, for those convicted. The number of Colombian Cartel Leaders actually taken into custody as a result of these operations was very few. Mostly, non-Colombians conspiring with the Cartel were the "fruits" of these indictments.[citation needed]

Most Colombians targeted, as well as those named in such indictments, lived and stayed in Colombia, or fled before indictments were unsealed. However, by 1993 most, if not all, cartel fugitives had been imprisoned or hunted and gunned down by the Colombian National Police trained and assisted by specailized military units and the CIA.[citation needed]

While it is broadly believed that the group "Los Pepes" have been instrumental in the assassination of the cartel's members over the last 17 years, it is still in dispute whether the mantle is just a screen designed to deflect political repercussions from both the Colombian and United States governments involvement in these assassinations.[citation needed]

Fear of extradition

Perhaps the greatest threat posed to the Medellín Cartel and the other traffickers was the implementation of an extradition treaty between the United States and Colombia. It allowed Colombia to extradite any Colombian suspected of drug trafficking to the US and to be put on trial there for their crimes. This was a major problem for the cartel since the drug traffickers had little access to their local power and influence in the US, and a trial there would most likely lead to imprisonment. Among the staunch supporters of the extradition treaty were Colombian Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, Police Officer Jaime Ramírez and numerous Supreme Court Judges. [citation needed]

However, the cartel applied a "bend or break" strategy towards several of these supporters, using bribery, extortion or violence. Nevertheless, when police efforts began to cause major losses, some of the major drug lords themselves were temporarily pushed out of Colombia, going into hiding while they ordered cartel members to take out key supporters of the extradition treaty.

Rodrigo Lara Bonilla was pushing for more action against the drug cartels.

The cartel issued death threats to the Supreme Court Judges, asking them to denounce the Extradition Treaty. The warnings were ignored. This led Escobar and the group he called Los Extraditables (the extraditionables) to start a violent campaign to pressure the government by committing a series of kidnappings, murders and Narco-terrorist actions.[13][14][15][16]

Alleged relation with the M-19

In November 1985, 35 heavily armed members of the M-19 guerrilla group stormed the Colombian Supreme Court in Bogotá, leading to the Palace of Justice siege. Some claimed at the time that the Cartel's influence was behind the M-19's raid, because of its interest in intimidating the Supreme Court. Others state that the alleged Cartel-Guerrilla relation was unlikely to occur at the time because this two organizations have been having several standoffs and confrontations, like the kidnappings of druglord Carlos Lehder and Nieves Ochoa, the sister of Medellin cartel founder Juan David Ochoa, by the M-19,[17][18][19][20] the kidnapping led to the creation of the MAS/"Muerte a Secuestradores"("Death to Kidnappers") paramilitary group by the Medellin cartel. Former guerrilla members have also denied that the cartel had any part in this event.[21] The issue continues to be debated inside Colombia.[22][23][24][25]

Assassinations

As a means of intimidation, the cartel conducted several hundred assassinations throughout the country. Escobar and his associates made it clear that whoever stood against them would risk being killed along with his/her families. Some estimates put the total around 3,500 killed during the height of the cartel, including over 500 police officers in Medellín, but the entire list is impossible to assemble, due to the limitation of the judiciary power in Colombia. The following is a brief list of the most notorious assassinations conducted by the cartel:

  • Luis Vasco and Gilberto Hernandez, two DAS agents who had arrested Pablo Escobar in 1976. One of the earliest assassinations of authority figures by the cartel.
  • Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, Minister of Justice, killed on a Bogotá highway on April 30, 1984 when two gunmen riding a motorcycle approached his vehicle in traffic and opened fire.[26]
  • Tulio Manuel Castro Gil, Superior Judge, killed by motorcycle gunmen in July 1985 shortly after indicting Escobar.[27]
  • Enrique Camarena, DEA Agent, February 9, 1985 killed in Guadalajara, Mexico. Tortured and murdered on orders of members of the Guadalajara Cartel and Juan Matta-Ballesteros, a drug lord of the Medellin Cartel.[citation needed]
  • Hernando Baquero Borda, Supreme Court Justice, killed by gunmen in Bogotá on July 31, 1986.[28]
  • Jaime Ramírez, Police Colonel and head of the anti-narcotics unit of the National Police of Colombia. Killed on a Medellín highway in November 1986 when assassins in a red Renault pulled up beside his white Toyota minivan and opened fire. Ramírez was killed instantly; his wife and two sons were wounded.[29]
  • Guillermo Cano Isaza, director of El Espectador, killed on December 1986 in Bogotá by gunmen riding a motorcycle.[30]
  • Jaime Pardo Leal, presidential candidate and head of the Patriotic Union party, killed by a gunman on October, 1987.[31]
  • Carlos Mauro Hoyos, Attorney General, killed by gunmen in Medellín on January 1988.[32]
  • Antonio Roldan Betancur, governor of Antioquia, killed by a car bomb in July 1989.[33]
  • Waldemar Franklin Quintero, Commander of the Antioquia police, killed by gunmen in Medellín in August 1989.[34]
  • Luis Carlos Galán, presidential candidate, killed by gunmen during a rally in Soacha in August 1989. The assassination was carried out on the same day the commander of the Antioquia police was gunned down by the cartel.[35]
  • Carlos Ernesto Valencia, Superior Judge, killed by gunmen shortly after indicting Escobar on the death of Guillermo Cano, in August 1989.[36]
  • Jorge Enrique Pulido, journalist, director of Jorge Enrique Pulido TV, killed by gunmen in Bogotá in November 1989.[37]
  • Diana Turbay, journalist, chief editor of the Hoy por Hoy magazine, killed during a rescue attempt in January 1991.[38]
  • Enrique Low Murtra, Minister of Justice, killed by gunmen in downtown Bogotá on May 1991.[39]
  • Myriam Rocio Velez, Superior Judge, killed by gunmen shortly before she was to sentence Escobar on the assassination of Galan, in September 1992.[40][41]

End of the cartel

The cartel's violence earned it the enmity of the Colombian and U.S. governments in addition to that of its rival Cali Cartel.

Many members of the cartel, including Pablo Escobar, were hunted and killed by a National Police of Colombia force, the Search Bloc, which had been trained and assisted by both the U.S. Delta Force as well as the CIA. In 1993, shortly before Escobar's death, the Medellín Cartel was also targeted by the vigilante group PEPES (People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar).[42]

DEA agents considered that their four-pronged "Kingpin Strategy", specifically targeting senior cartel figures, was a major contributing factor to the collapse of the organization.[43] The Office of Envigado is believed to be a partial successor to the organization.

See also

References

  1. ^ Marc Chernick (March–April 1998). "The paramilitarization of the war in Colombia". NACLA Report on the Americas. 31 (5): 28.
  2. ^ Brittain, 2010: pp. 129–131
  3. ^ Forrest Hylton (2006). Evil Hour in Colombia. Verso. pp. 68–69. ISBN 978-1-84467-551-7.
  4. ^ a b c HRW, 1996: "II. History of the Military-Paramilitary Partnership"
  5. ^ Richani, 2002: p.38
  6. ^ a b Hristov, 2009: pp. 65-68
  7. ^ Santina, Peter "Army of terror", Harvard International Review, Winter 1998/1999, Vol. 21, Issue 1
  8. ^ a b c Geoff Simons (2004). Colombia: A Brutal History. Saqi Books. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-86356-758-2.
  9. ^ a b Pearce, Jenny (May 1, 1990). 1st. ed. Colombia:Inside the Labyrinth. London: Latin America Bureau. p. 247. ISBN 0-906156-44-0
  10. ^ Democracy Now!, Who Is Israel's Yair Klein and What Was He Doing in Colombia and Sierra Leone?, June 1, 2000.
  11. ^ Harvey F. Kline (1999). State Building and Conflict Resolution in Colombia: 1986-1994. University of Alabama Press. pp. 73–74.
  12. ^ Miller Llana, Sara (25 October 2010). "Medellín, once epicenter of Colombia's drug war, fights to keep the peace". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  13. ^ http://www.semana.com/enfoque/articulo/maruja-pachon-ex-ministra-educacion/103434-3
  14. ^ http://www.rferl.org/content/news_of_a_kidnapping_hit_in_iran_after_musavi_tip/24328771.html
  15. ^ http://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/CMS-4583136
  16. ^ http://pendientedemigracion.ucm.es/info/especulo/numero3/gmarquez.htm
  17. ^ http://www.elmundo.com/portal/especiales/especiales/detalle.noticia.php?idespecial=18&idarticulo=408
  18. ^ http://www.eltiempo.com/justicia/muere-juan-david-ochoa-vasquez_12947122-4
  19. ^ http://www.wradio.com.co/escucha/archivo_de_audio/marta-nieves-ochoa-hermana-de-fabio-ochoa/20071018/oir/495145.aspx
  20. ^ http://www.elespectador.com/impreso/politica/articuloimpreso-1981-plagio-de-martha-ochoa-se-creo-el-mas
  21. ^ "M-19 cambió drogas por armas". El País. 6 October 2005. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2006. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ David McClintick (November 28, 1993). "Lost in the Ashes". The Washington Post. pp. 268, 279.
  23. ^ "Un Grito por el Palacio". Cromos. November 25, 2005.
  24. ^ "Palacio de Justicia, 20 años de dolor". El País. November 7, 2005.
  25. ^ "M-19 cambió drogas por armas". El País. October 6, 2005.
  26. ^ Lernoux, Penny (June 16, 1984). "The minister who had to die: Colombia's drug war". The Nation.
  27. ^ "Thirty Years of America's Drug War: A Chronology". PBS.
  28. ^ "High judge fighting drug traffic is slain in Colombia". Chicago Sun-Times. August 1, 1986. p. 32.
  29. ^ "The Murderous Cartel: Taking the Life of a Top Cop". Wichita Eagle. December 20, 1987. p. 12A.
  30. ^ Mark A. Uhlig (May 24, 1989). "As Colombian Terror Grows, The Press Becomes the Prey". New York Times. p. Section A, Page 1, Column 5.
  31. ^ "Colombians Strike: Violence Spreads Death Toll Rises After Killing of Leftist Political Leader". The Washington Post. October 14, 1987. p. Section A.
  32. ^ Alan Riding (February 1, 1988). "Colombians Grow Weary of Waging the War on Drugs". New York Times. p. Section A, Page 1, Column 4.
  33. ^ "Colombian Governor Assassinated". Philadelphia Inquirer. July 5, 1989. p. B20.
  34. ^ "Gang Murders Cop Who Fought Medellin Cartel". Miami Herald. August 19, 1989. p. 1A.
  35. ^ Douglas Farah (August 17, 1990). "Colombian: Israeli Aided Assassins Candidate's Slaying Launched Drug War". The Washington Post. pp. A SECTION.
  36. ^ "Colombian Judge In Drug Case Killed". The Washington Post. August 18, 1989. p. A SECTION.
  37. ^ "Soldiers Kill 8 Rebels". Wichita Eagle. November 9, 1989. p. 12A.
  38. ^ Douglas Farah (September 21, 1990). "Drug Cartel Kidnaps 3 Colombian Notables". The Washington Post. pp. A SECTION.
  39. ^ David L. Marcus (May 2, 1991). "Colombia professor's slaying shows drug war far from over". Dallas Morning News.
  40. ^ "3 Who Escaped With Colombia Drug Lord Give Up". New York Times. October 9, 1992. p. Section A, Page 5, Column 1.
  41. ^ "Judge murdered - World - News". The Independent. 1992-09-20. Retrieved 2013-10-30.
  42. ^ Uppsala Conflict Data Program Conflict Encyclopedia, Colombia, non-state Conflict, Medellín Cartel - PEPES, 1993, http://www.ucdp.uu.se/gpdatabase/gpcountry.php?id=35&regionSelect=5-Southern_Americas#
  43. ^ Interview with DEA Agent #2 D.Streatfeild. Source Interview. October 2000
  • [1] Lawyer Luiz Felipe Mallmann de Magalhães 31. United States vs. Robert Elisio Serry, Walter J Magri Jr Importation of Cocaine. Sarasota News TimeS MARCH 21, 1990


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