Colombia's cocaine cartels

[Hollander]

7 Arrested in Cocaine Smuggling Ring

BOGOTA, Colombia, Apr. 5, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(AP)



(AP) Active and retired police and army officers working for one of Colombia's largest cocaine cartels used commercial cargo planes to ship drugs to the United States, authorities said Tuesday in announcing seven arrests.

U.S. officials, who are seeking the extradition of the seven, said the case illustrates the reaches of Colombia's notorious drug rings and the danger posed by corruption among the country's security and transportation workers.

Among those arrested are a retired police major and captain, a former army lieutenant, two police officers and an employee of Colombia's national airline, Avianca. The seventh suspect was described as a liaison between the active and former police officials and the Norte del Valle cartel, one of Colombia's largest drug traffickers. Police said the cartel used Avianca's cargo plans to transport the drugs.

"There is a national security component to this case," said Boyd Johnson, chief of the international narcotics trafficking unit at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan.

Authorities said the seven would be extradited to New York to stand trial on charges they smuggled more than 900 pounds of cocaine bound for the United States. Police said they seized 1,200 pounds of cocaine linked to the cartel in a warehouse in northern Bogota on Monday.

The arrests, beginning Monday night, were based on a U.S. indictment in New York that alleges the Norte del Valle cartel recruited the airline worker and police involved with security at El Dorado Airport.

It alleges the ring shipped the cocaine in October through Avianca's cargo facility after an airline employee approved false paperwork. The drugs were allegedly destined for the United States via Mexico.

Two patrolmen let the shipment go through security and guarded it for three days at the airline cargo area, the indictment alleges. The cocaine noted in the indictment was seized in Mexico City by Mexican law enforcement agencies on Oct. 17, it adds.

If convicted, the defendants could face anywhere from 10 years to life in prison, though the United States has assured Colombia that it will not seek life sentences for defendants extradited from there.

Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine. In the last four years, nearly 350 Colombians have been extradited to the United States to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

The Norte del Valle cocaine cartel is considered to be one of the largest mafias operating in Colombia. One of its leaders, Diego Montoya, sits alongside Osama Bin Laden on the FBI's ten-most-wanted list.

___

Associated Press writer Nahal Toosi in New York contributed to this report.

[Hollander]

Mexico Army Finds Tons of Cocaine on Plane

MEXICO CITY, Apr. 12, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(AP) Mexican soldiers seized 5 1/2 tons of cocaine worth more than $100 million from a commercial plane arriving from Venezuela, Mexico's Defense Department announced Tuesday.

The army was waiting for the plane on Monday at the airport of Cuidad de Carmen, 550 miles east of Mexico City, after receiving information from Venezuelan and U.S. authorities, Gen. Carlos Gaytan told a news conference.

The cocaine was stacked in 128 black suitcases marked private.

Soldiers arrested Colombian Miguel Vazquez, 47, who was the plane's co-pilot, but the pilot escaped, Gaytan said. There were no passengers.

The soldiers also arrested two Mexicans who were waiting at the airport with another plane.

Gaytan said airport officials initially stopped soldiers from approaching the plane, claiming there was an oil leak and that it might explode. The officials are being investigated to see if they were in league with the traffickers, said Mexico's top drug prosecutor, Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos.

U.S. and Mexican officials say that cocaine and heroin is increasingly passing from Colombia through Venezuela to Mexico where it is smuggled into the United States. While drug traffickers used planes to smuggle large quantities of drugs in the 1990s, most Mexican traffickers now use land and sea routes.

A U.S. State Department report released in March said that Venezuela has become a key transit point for drugs because of "rampant corruption at the highest levels of law enforcement and a weak judicial system."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez suspended cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in August, accusing its agents of spying.

[moribundo]

Ocupan bienes de los Rodríguez
Abril 13 de 2006
Hombres de la Dijín ocuparon en las últimas horas 18 propiedades pertenecientes a la familia Rodríguez Orejuela, avaluadas en más de mil trecientos millones de pesos.

Entre los bienes, localizados en los departamentos de Atlántico, Magdalena, Casanare, Cundinamarca, Risaralda, Tolima, Cauca y Valle del Cauca, se encuentran locales comerciales, negocios de inversiones y viviendas.

Estos activos, que inician un proceso de extinción de dominio, estaban a nombre de los familiares de los hermanos Miguel y Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, extraditados a Estados Unidos.

La propiedad ocupada en el Valle está ubicada en el municipio de Zarzal, al norte del departamento

After they got out of the business without to much problems about 10 years ago, DEA and DIJIN are finally busting them and their family real hard.

[Hollander]

Fri 14 Apr 2006

FARC guerrillas' link to £70m cocaine haul
JEREMY MCDERMOTT IN BOGOTA
MEXICAN authorities yesterday began investigations into the involvement of Colombian guerrillas in the shipment of 5.5 tons of cocaine seized from a commercial aircraft.

The high-purity cocaine, the biggest seizure in recent years, was found amid 128 pieces of luggage on a US passenger airline, Aero Flight, which left Caracas in Venezuela and made an unregistered stop in Ciudad de Carmen, Mexico, where soldiers found the drugs. The cocaine is valued at £70 million.

Santiago Vasconcelos, of the Mexican attorney general's office, said there was evidence that the drugs came from guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who have long-standing agreements with Mexican drug cartels to supply cocaine in exchange for weapons and ammunition. The two pilots, Poot Pérez and Pérez de Gracia, have been arrested before in connections with a drug flight, but managed to escape prosecution. They are unlikely to do so again.

These 5.5 tons make up the first major shipment linked to the FARC since the US attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, issued 50 indictments covering most of the FARC senior command structure, on charges of drug-trafficking.

"We believe these men are responsible for not only manufacturing and exporting devastating amounts of cocaine, but enforcing their criminal regime with violence," Mr Gonzales said.

It is significant that the drugs came via Venezuela, because the Colombian army has long alleged that Venezuela's socialist president, Hugo Chavez, is sympathetic to the Marxist rebels.

[moribundo]

@ Hollander. I wouldn´t take the Farc involvement in this case (i don´t doubt their general involvement in drug trade) for granted until there is some real evidence. Because their ar much political interests involved in the whole narcoguerilla discussion. Vasconcelos is very fast on blaming Farc. Just for example one should remember the case of the DF trafficker "Halcon", who was ?representative?=representate for the colombian traffickers "Los Mellizos" Mejia-Munera. Vasconcelos then linked the whole case to the Farc, and claimed the "Mellizos" were Farc associates. The fact is the "Mellizos" are members of the rightwing paramilitary groups of the AUC, the own/owned the AUC Bloque Vencedores de Arauca. They are currently taking part in the demobilisationprocess of the AUC, which will grant them nearly total impunity for their crimes.
Because of such facts i wouldn´t take the FARC involvement in this case for granted.
Excuse my bad english, and thank you for posting that interesting news.

[moribundo]

A huge scandal in Colombia has been ignored by western medias. Apparently the presidental security/secret/intelligence service has been totally corrupted by Narcoparamilitaries (Jorge 40..) and pure Narcotraffickers (Don Diego Montoya..).
On this site one can find a very good summary of the whole DAS Scandal

[Hollander]

Colombian Cocaine Brain and Prince's Back-up Dancer

http://www.sharedresponsibility.gov.co/ind...idcategoria=512

[Hollander]

Fri, Apr. 28, 2006



Sister of ex-Colombian president killed

TOBY MUSE
Associated Press

BOGOTA, Colombia - The sister of former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria was killed late Thursday in a botched kidnapping that underscored fears of violence a month before national elections.

Liliana Gaviria, 52, a real estate agent, was killed by unknown assailants in the province of Risaralda, 110 miles west of Bogota.

Cesar Gaviria was president of Colombia between 1990-1994, before becoming secretary general of the Organization of American States. He currently leads the main opposition party, the Liberals.

"It pains us. It pains us greatly that such crimes occur," said President Alvaro Uribe, announcing a $430,000 reward for the capture of those responsible. "The government will do all in its power to make sure this crime doesn't go unpunished."

Between four and eight armed men intercepted Gaviria as she was traveling with her security detail. In the ensuing shootout, one of her bodyguards was killed and two of the kidnappers were injured, said Uberney Marin, mayor of the nearby city of Pereira.

Gaviria's body was found about 15 minutes after her abduction.

Colombian elections have traditionally been marked by violence as leftist rebels, far-right paramilitaries and drug-traffickers attempt to assert influence.

Despite a widening corruption scandal, Uribe continues to hold a commanding lead in polls ahead of the May 28 election. Voters appear to approve of his dogged pursuit of leftist rebels, which is credited with a dramatic drop in kidnapping and politically motivated homicides.

Cesar Gaviria's political career has been framed by the violence that has gripped Colombia for decades.

Ten years ago this month, his brother was kidnapped and kept for 70 days by a leftist rebel group before being set free in exchange for the release of eight prisoners.

In 1989, he was campaign manager for leading presidential candidate and anti-corruption crusader Luis Carlos Galan, who was assassinated at a rally by gunmen working for cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel. Gaviria replaced Galan as the Liberal Party's candidate and went on to win the election.

Escobar was killed in 1993 during a rooftop shootout in Medellin, while Gaviria was in office.

[moribundo]

7 cops in Baranquilla (State of Atlantico, Costa Caribe) arrested for reselling 3 tons of conviscated drugs to the narcotraficantes.
Here is the Link

[moribundo]

the FARC is responsible for the death of Liliana Gaviria. It seems like the whole thing was a failed kidnapping attempt of the columna ‘Teófilo Forero’, a elit unit of the FARC.
Here is thearticle

[moribundo]

"He Knows Too Much"



In a March 31 entry to his blog, El Espectador columnist Felipe Zuleta referred to the case of Gabriel Puerta Parra (alias “The Doctor”), a longtime narcotrafficker and paramilitary associate arrested in late 2004. The U.S. government requested Puerta’s extradition in early 2004, and Colombian President Álvaro Uribe gave his final approval over two months ago. The extradition policy, notes Zuleta,

is the one that is going to put our ruling class into a jam. That is why they haven’t wanted to extradite Gabriel Puerta Parra, whose extradition has been ready since February 20, despite the rapidity with which this government extradites. Could it be that Puerta Parra knows too many things about our president? What could it be?

“He Knows Too Much” is the title of an article about Puerta that appeared a few days later on the website of Colombia’s Semana newsmagazine. It includes an overview of his background as an important behind-the-scenes figure in the twin rise of narcotrafficking and paramilitarism in Colombia during the last fifteen years.

Puerta served as head of the DAS ,the government security agency currently riven by scandal, in Boyacá department during the 1960s. A major cattle rancher in northern Colombia, he was an early supporter and organizer of paramilitary groups in the Magdalena Medio region. He has served as an intermediary between paramilitaries and narcotraffickers (inlcuding as a bagman bringing narcos’ money to top paramilitary leaders), and between feuding drug lords. His U.S. extradition request calls Puerta one of the leaders of the Northern Valle cartel, the largest single drug-trafficking organization (other than armed groups) in Colombia today.

According to an October 2004 article in El Tiempo (see Google’s cache of it here), in August of that year, two months before his arrest, Puerta had written to an unnamed top AUC leader asking permission to join the ranks of the paramilitary leadership in the demilitarized zone where demobilization talks were taking place. By becoming "Comandante Agamez," the name he chose for himself, Puerta Parra hoped not only to evade arrest, but to negotiate a possible amnesty and a way to avoid extradition to the United States. However, the article that appeared in Semana this month contains a different version of this episode; it says that the paramilitaries offered to make Puerta a comandante to avoid extradition, but that he turned them down.

Alongside its profile of Puerta, Semana published the text of an interview it secured with the jailed narcotrafficker, who remains unextradited. The interview, conducted by phone, offers a disturbing and revealing look at Colombia’s criminal underworld and its intersection with both paramilitaries and politics. Here it is in English.

Semana.com, April 3, 2006

“As soon as they get me on the plane, I’ll plead guilty”

Semana: What do you think about the paramilitary process?

Gabriel Puerta: That it is a farce. I don’t see any future for it. There are many internal problems. With an army that has grown so much, it is impossible for this process to work. This story about how “if you behave we won’t turn you over” is a very pretty thing, but there is no secure legal guarantee behind that promise, and the United States doesn’t pardon.

S: You were a witness of how narcotraffickers took over paramilitarism.

G.P.: Look, in the Magdalena Medio all of the cattlemen supported the AUC, absolutely all of them. There were sugar-cane farmers, industrialists, businessmen, politicians and soldiers. Along with the business leaders, we did a lot of lobbying in Montería [the capital of Córdoba department, where AUC leaders Salvatore Mancuso and Carlos Castaño spent much of their time]. I didn’t have an army, but the campesinos were the biggest intelligence service in the country. But the cost of war was immense, and they would keep asking us for more money for guns and ammunition. Everyone who wanted help gave them 25 men, who cost at least 25 million pesos per month to sustain. The oil-palm growers put up the money, and the military trained them. Afterward, the soldiers got skittish and only sergeants, majors and captains remained. And when the businessmen realized that they weren’t able to sustain this, each armed comandante became a loose cannon. By now they were very powerful and they fell under the sway of narcotraffickers.

S: What was your big sin in this process?

G.P.: To bring money from the narcos to Carlos Castaño.

S: And why did you offer this service, if you weren’t involved in the drug business?

G.P.: Because I was a friend of the self-defense groups and because I am a man of peace. [Note: Puerta’s irony here is purely unintentional.] We had to stop the extortions, free the kidnapped people and stop the war. The narcos collaborated with money. Or do you think I could show up before Castaño with only five centavos? I had to perform certain services so that they would pay attention to me and to save lives.

S: How much money did you end up bringing them?

G.P.: A lot. All of the narcos took up collections.

S: But you also met at your ranch with narcos like Diego Montoya, “Don Diego,” Hernando Gómez, “Rasguño,” and Wílber Varela [“Jabón.” All three are top leaders of the Northern Valle cartel whose frequent feuds have left hundreds of people dead].

G.P.: My great sin was to meet with them to talk about peace. So that they might stop shooting at each other, and now I’m going to be extradited. Like an idiot I got involved in the solution to problems that weren’t mine. But I’m not anybody’s right hand or left hand. “Don Diego” wanted to end the problem of the war within the Northern Valle cartel and I sat him down with his enemy to talk peace. And I accompanied Hernando Gómez to a meeting with Monsignor Giraldo, the bishop of Buga, to ask for his help in arranging narcos’ eventual surrender to the authorities. I knew that he spoke to his brother in Medellín, but this all ended up being just an aspiration.

S: How much do you know about the “baby cartels” that Gen. Óscar Naranjo [the head of SIJIN, or police intelligence] talks about?

G.P.: They are very professional and more educated. They are rich. They have bank accounts in Paraguay, Argentina, Switzerland and Spain.

S: Will this business [the drug business] ever be eliminated?

G.P.: Nobody will ever eliminate narcotrafficking.

S: Why did you refuse to enter the paramilitary peace process?

G.P.: Because they offered to hide me and I didn’t agree. I didn’t want to cause problems for the government.

S: You’ve got one foot on a DEA plane [for his imminent extradition].

G.P.: That’s right. I go full of fear. As soon as they get me on the DEA plane, I’ll plead guilty. I’m not willing to go to trial. I wasn’t trafficking in drugs, but I know the heart of the business, as well as that of the self-defense groups and paramilitarism.

S: If U.S. justice asks you what you know about accusations that President Álvaro Uribe’s government has ties to paramilitaries, what are you going to say to them?

G.P.: I’m not going to shake up the government, even though Álvaro Uribe is not a saint whom I worship. The public [la sociedad] is who is being deceived. Those who peacefully walk down Carrera Séptima in Bogotá and know nothing about the critical situation in the countryside.

S: And if they ask you about the ties between politicians and paramilitaries?

G.P.: The only thing I’ll say is that the political class and ruling class flirt with narcotraffickers in private, and reject them in public. Double morality rules in Colombia.

[Hollander]

May 13, 2006, 6:40AM
Colombia's Top Cop Shaken by Kin's Arrest


By JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

BOGOTA, Colombia — The head of Colombia's judicial police _ a top crime sleuth who has led a relentless crusade against the country's drug cartels _ said he was shocked to learn his brother is suspected of involvement in a major European drug trafficking ring.

Gen. Oscar Naranjo broke the news of his brother's arrest in Germany to a stunned Colombian public this week. On Friday he said his brother, 29-year-old Juan David Naranjo, is accused of being part of what authorities say appears to be a major European drug smuggling operation.

"Juan David was a normal guy, an honest individual, though we haven't communicated very much in the past few years," Naranjo told The Associated Press. "My family and I could have never imagined he was involved in this."

An official in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said Juan David Naranjo was arrested in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe for having 220 pounds of drugs. The official did not disclose the type of drugs found.

Gen. Naranjo said he had not spoken to his brother and that he did not know about the amount of drugs found. He said he believed two or three others were arrested in the German operation.

Naranjo revealed the arrest at a news conference Wednesday, saying he "never thought that the curse of drug trafficking, which I've fought against tirelessly in 30 years of public service, would reach my own doorstep."

Just as shocked were Colombians. Naranjo, the son of the former head of Colombia's national police and the oldest of seven children, rose through police ranks by arresting hundreds of drug traffickers who were later extradited to the United States.

He played a key role in the sting operation that brought down drug lord Pablo Escobar and later led the effort to dismantle the feared Cali cartel. His has drawn comparisons to Chicago crimebuster Eliot Ness, a U.S. treasury agent known for taking on mobster Al Capone.

President Alvaro Uribe immediately applauded Naranjo's decision to come forward, calling the police chief "a patriot that deserves the government's confidence."

Last month, Uribe tapped Naranjo to lead one of Colombia's biggest manhunts in years _ the investigation into the killing of former President Cesar Gaviria's sister, slain during a botched kidnapping attempt.

"He's a police officer who wears a halo," said Alfredo Rangel, a political analyst. "He's unrivaled as an investigator and for his relentless crusade against Colombia's mafias.

Naranjo learned of his brother's arrest May 3. At the news conference, he said Germany authorities had advised him to keep silent until the investigation was completed. But he said he decided to come forward out of "conviction and responsibility to the country."

Naranjo said his brother moved to Spain six years ago, where he completed a degree in business management and entered the fast-food business in Madrid.

The brothers communicated sporadically by e-mail, and last saw each other a year and a half ago when Juan David Naranjo returned to Colombia to get married.

Colombia is the world's biggest supplier of cocaine and half of all shipments are believed to end up in Europe.

___

[Hollander]

Reputed cocaine kingpin arrested in Brazil


By Joshua Goodman
Associated Press writer
May 17, 2006 9:07 PM


BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- One of the world's most hunted drug traffickers _ accused of shipping more than 70 tons of cocaine to the United States _ has been arrested in Brazil, Colombian police said Wednesday.

Colombian-born Pablo Rayo Montano, who had been on the run for a decade, was captured Tuesday in Sao Paulo as part of an operation coordinated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

More than three dozen others were arrested during simultaneous raids in the United States and Latin America, officials said. Authorities also seized control of three islands off the coast of Panama, a trove of artwork, yachts and millions in cash.

"It's estimated the amount of cocaine supplied by this organization was enough to poison 37 million consumers," Colombia's anti-narcotics police said in a statement.

Called Twin Oceans, the operation targeted a major drug cartel that shipped cocaine and other drugs from clandestine ports along Colombia's coast.

Officials in nine countries _ Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Mexico and the United States _ have arrested more than 100 people during the investigation, and have seized 47.5 tons of cocaine, 22 pounds of heroin and 770 pounds of marijuana.

Of the more than 30 arrests Tuesday, six were in the United States, including one in Los Angeles in which a federal agent posed as a pizza deliveryman, a DEA official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the operation. Four people were arrested in Miami and one in Indianapolis.

The Justice Department considered Montano a key target, accusing him of running one of the world's largest drug smuggling operations from Sao Paulo, where he had lived for the past three years.

DEA officials said the United States would seek to extradite Montano.

Colombian police said Montano began trafficking drugs in the early 1990s from the Pacific port of Buenaventura and rose to prominence within the now-defunct Cali cartel.

Police said that in Brazil, Montano set up a number of companies, including an art gallery, to launder proceeds from the monthly sale of an estimated 22 tons of cocaine to the United States and Europe.

___

Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.

>

[Hollander]

http://www.oem.com.mx/elsoldemexico/notas....nota=160506capo
http://www.dea.gov/pubs/pressrel/pr051706.html

[moribundo]

Justice may have made a huge victory in colombia today.
col. Surpreme Court ruled out that "paramilitaries", who were sentenced before
the begining of the demobilisation-talks, won´t benefit from the amnesty law for this sentences, they have to go to jail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is a list with the "paras" (two of them, the Mejia-Munera twins are pure drug kingpins) which already got a pre-ralito (place of the demobilisations-talk) sentence, which the have to serve (is this correct english??)

Algunos de los jefes de las autodefensas que tienen condenas

Ellos no se beneficiarán de los beneficios de la Ley de Justicia y Paz.

Hernán Giraldo. El 17 de febrero de 1994 la Corte Suprema le fijó una pena de 20 años por las masacres de las fincas Honduras y La Negra, en la zona de Urabá.

Salvatore Mancuso. El 22 de abril del 2003, un juzgado de Antioquia lo condenó a 40 años por su participación en la masacre de El Aro, ocurrida en 1997.

Víctor Mejía Múnera. El 29 de diciembre del 2004 fue condenado a 9 años por enriquecimiento ilícito. La Policía le encontró una caleta de 35 millones de dólares.

Miguel Mejía. Sentenciado a 8 años de prisión por el mismo caso de la caleta de su hermano, encontrada en un apartamento en Bogotá el 24 de agosto del 2001.

Especially for Mancuso and Giraldo this will be a hard time. But this is just, on the mentioned massacres died hundrets of normal campesinos and their children and women!! This two monsters spared nobody, luckily justice will not spare them!!!

[moribundo]

Mayo 19 de 2006
7:40 a.m.
En Panamá, investigan a ex futbolista de selección Colombia Freddy Rincón por testaferrato

Citando una fuente oficial, la agencia Efe asegura que el jugador estaría involucrado con el supuesto narcotraficante Pablo Rayo M.

Según la agencia de noticias Efe, el fiscal primero Antidrogas de Panamá, Patricio Candanedo, dijo en una rueda de prensa que "hay una persona que fue de la selección de (fútbol) de Colombia que figura como testaferro de esta organización" de Rayo.

El ex futbolista, que no identificó, "figuraba como testaferro dentro de la empresa Nautipesca, igual que en un hotel que fue confiscado en Panamá", según Candanedo.

Públicamente se le preguntó a Candanedo si negaría que se trata del ex jugador Freddy Rincón, ante lo que el fiscal respondió "que lo que importa, por razón de la investigación, es que está imputado" (...) y recordó que la ley le obliga a mantener en reserva la identidad de los imputados.

Añadió que a todos los involucrados ya se les formularon cargos por el delito de "blanqueo" de capitales. El 'Canal 4' de la televisión local indicó que las autoridades anti-narcóticos panameñas ordenaron la captura del ex futbolista.

La investigacíón empezó en Panamá

Por otra parte, Candanedo dijo que en Panamá se originaron las primeras investigaciones que culminaron esta semana con la operación 'Océanos Gemelos' contra el narcotráfico internacional, realizada por autoridades de una decena de países. Alrededor de cien personas fueron detenidas.

"Esta es la más grande operación que hemos realizado en Panamá a través del tiempo y por la magnitud de las diligencias que hemos realizado y por los decomisos logrados en esta investigación", aseguró.

La organización desmantelada se dedicaba al transporte marítimo de droga y a invertir el dinero procedente de esta actividad ilícita en bienes y esta acusada de enviar cerca de 20 toneladas mensuales de cocaína desde Suramérica a Estados Unidos y a Europa.

Añadió que la investigación contra la organización criminal del colombiano Pablo Rayo M. tuvo su origen en Panamá en noviembre del 2002, durante la 'Operación Estéreo', seguida en abril del 2003 en la 'Operación Buenaventura' y en noviembre de ese año por la 'Operación Tranca', con millonarios decomisos de bienes y la detención de casi medio centenar de personas.

El fiscal señaló "que todo esto es parte de cómo se fue estructurando la investigación en un solo expediente desde el año 2002, hasta el 16 de mayo pasado con la fase 4 de la 'Operación Buenaventura', como parte de 'Océanos Gemelos'.

Candanedo recordó que a raíz de esta información se puso en conocimiento al Departamento Estadounidense Antidrogas (DEA) que "había una organización que estaba operando (en Panamá)". Es cuando la DEA "comienza a coordinar con sus oficinas homólogas y detectan que había elementos en común que indicaban la presencia en otros países" (Argentina, Brasil, Colombia, Venezuela, México, Ecuador, España, E.U., Costa Rica y Panamá) de la organización, añadió.

Resultados de 'Océanos gemelos'

Sobre los resultados de 'Dos Océanos' en Panamá, Candanedo detalló que hubo 29 requisas, se detuvo a once panameños y cuatro colombianos, se decomisaron 24 vehículos, ocho embarcaciones, 40 armas, 339.652 dólares en efectivo y se confiscaron 39 cuentas bancarias en diferentes bancos de la localidad.

Entre las propiedades confiscadas está una empresa denominada Nautipesca, propiedad de Rayo, terrenos y casas compradas en las áreas revertidas del Canal de Panamá.

En cuanto a Pablo Rayo, Candanedo dijo que vivió en Panamá hace varios años cuando no tenía orden de captura y que en el 2003, a raíz de la 'Operación Buenaventura', se mudó a Brasil, de lo que fue alertada la DEA.

Panamá
Con información de Efe

[Skippy]

Now that's a drug bust
Saturday, May 20, 2006

image The staggering scale of the operations of global drug syndicates has been exposed with the busting of Columbia’s “Don Pablo” Rayo-Montano cartel and the seizure of 47 tonnes of cocaine, enough vessels to compromise a navy for a small nation, three islands, art galleries, luxury homes in a number of countries including the US, commercial properties, businesses and other assets worth more than US$70 million.

Authorities in nine countries, co-ordinated by the US Drug Enforcement Agency, conducted co-ordinated raids that led to 100 arrests in the culmination of a three year investigation codenamed “Operation Twin Oceans”.

Don Pablo, the successor to the late Pablo Escobar, was arrested by US drug enforcement agents at his hideout in Sao Paulo after spending 10 years on the run.

His cocaine syndicate was so sophisticated it built submarines, designed to be towed underwater behind cargo ships, to smuggle drugs past the US Coast Guard. The syndicate was responsible for trafficking an estimated 15 tonnes of cocaine a month to the US and Europe.

Announcing the results of Operation Twin Oceans this week, the DEA gave details of assets seized including three islands off the coast of Panama, yachts, fishing trawlers, art galleries, homes, paintings and the largest fishing and boating store in Panama.

“The Rayo-Montano organization had its own private, rogue navy to run a drug business that was nearly as sophisticated as a small nation,” said DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy.

Rayo-Montano’s sophisticated money laundering operation included an art gallery in Brazil.

[Skippy]

These islands, owned by the Rayo-Montano organization, and located off the coast of Panama were seized by the Panama Authorities with the assistance of the DEA



Submersible used by the Rayo-Montano organization.



Close-up of the hatch on the submersible.

http://www.dea.gov/pubs/pressrel/pr051706fig4_fullsize.jpg

U.S. Coast Guard RHIB (right) intercepts a go-fast boat which had 744 kilos of cocaine on it.



744 kilos of cocaine seized.



One of the many assets seized as part of Operation Twin Oceans.

[Skippy]

link below for video

http://www.dea.gov/pubs/pressrel/pr051706.wmv

[moribundo]

"Don Pablo, the successor to the late Pablo Escobar, "
i would doubt that!!!!
As far as i know (thats as far as my uncle told me) Pablo Montoya is more a huge logistic company, for the diffrent drug investors/owners (zb. Don Berna, Don Diego) and the diffrent drugbrokers (f.e see operation millenium, jaguar).
It s a very good example how specialized and sophisticated drug industry is nowadays. As a broker you need for example only some enrypted cellphones and labtops and ther right adress.
You get yourself a patron in colombia, who provides (mostly also ones it= investor) the product, the insurance and his brand name as security (this things drug, insurance, money can of course come from diffrent people); then a good logistican (like the rayo-montano), and a buyer in Mexico or Europe (UK, Nederlands, Italy, Albania and sobre todo Espana).
Coordinate all this groups and go in vacation with your provision (or if you invested yourself with the whole profit)!

[moribundo]

Pablo Montoya= shit, OF COURSE PABLO RAYO MONTANO!!!

[Hollander]

SA agents help snag Colombian drug kingpin

May 22 2006 at 05:34AM

By Graeme Hosken and Sapa-AP

The Colombian-born suspected drug kingpin believed to have ordered the assassination of South Africa's crime intelligence chief has been arrested in Brazil - with the help of information from South African police crime intelligence agents.

Pablo Rayo-Montano, one of the world's most wanted suspected drug dealers, was nabbed at his home in Sao Paulo in a raid by dozens of international law enforcement agents.

Rayo-Montano had been on the run from South American and United States authorities for nearly 10 years and his arrest brought to an end a three-year operation spearheaded by the US Drug Enforcement Administration and police in Brazil, Panama and Colombia.


He is suspected to have ordered the assassination of SAPS crime intelligence boss Commissioner Raymond Lalla in South Africa in 2003.

More than 36 drug cartel operatives were also arrested in simultaneous raids in the US and Latin America last week, officials said.

Also seized were three islands Rayo-Montano owned off the coast of Panama and a trove of expensive art, yachts, real estate and millions in cash.

The cartel allegedly used speedboats, cargo vessels and submarines to ship more than 15 tons of cocaine a month from clandestine Colombian ports to the US and Europe, officials said.

It is understood between five and eight SAPS crime intelligence agents were involved in the arrest of Rayo-Montano, giving their South and North American counterparts information about his recent movements.

It is believed three of his cartel's members arrived in South Africa recently on a "reconnaissance" mission, looking to establish drug distribution points, and flew back to South America two weeks ago.

[Skippy]

Soldiers shoot 10 undercover cops
From: Agence France-Presse
From correspondents in Bogota

May 23, 2006


AT least 10 undercover police officers conducting an anti-drug operation were accidentally shot dead by soldiers in southern Colombia, Defence Minister Camilo Ospina said.

The undercover police were near the town of Jamundi when they ran into troops who mistook them for drug traffickers, Mr Ospina said.

A civilian was also killed in the accidental skirmish.

[moribundo]

Corte Constitucional declaró legal Ley de Justicia y Paz, pero recorta beneficios a desmovilizados

Quienes hayan sido condenados antes del proceso de paz, como Mancuso, deberán pagar la totalidad de su pena y no podrán recibir reducciones.

Pese a que la mayor parte del contenido de la Ley de Justicia y Paz recibió anoche la bendición de la Corte Constitucional, la decisión de tumbar algunos apartes de la norma significa un duro golpe para varios de los principales jefes paramilitares y probablemente para el proceso de negociación con ese grupo.

El impacto más fuerte lo sentirán algunos líderes de las Auc que ya tienen condenas vigentes, pues los magistrados decidieron –por seis votos contra tres– que las penas impuestas por la justicia antes del proceso de paz se deben cumplir en su totalidad.

Ese sería el caso de hombres como Salvatore Mancuso y Hernán
Giraldo Serna (condenados por masacres) y aspiraban a recibir un máximo de ocho años de cárcel, tal como se establece en la Ley de Justicia y Paz.

Ahora, debido a que no podrán incluir esas condenas dentro de la ley, tendrán que pagar la máxima pena que les impusieron previamente.

“Si antes del proceso de paz –dijo el presidente de la Corte, Jaime Córdoba– alguien fue condenado por un delito como homicidio de persona protegida (por ejemplo, miembros de grupos étnicos) y recibe una pena 40 años, y con posterioridad se somete a la Ley de Justicia y Paz y confiesa otros de sus delitos, y recibe una condena de cinco años, esa persona pagará una pena efectiva de 45 años”.

Esta medida no solo afecta a algunos jefes ‘paras’, sino a centenares de combatientes de las Auc, muchos de ellos detenidos en las cárceles, que esperaban acogerse a la ley para obtener las penas alternativas.

Sin embargo, aquellos que tengan procesos abiertos, pero sin condenas (por ejemplo, Diego Fernando Murillo, ‘don Berna’) sí pueden confesar sus delitos y recibir las penas de entre cinco y ocho años.

Expectativa por reacción

Anoche, las Auc mantenían silencio. Su pronunciamiento se espera con expectativa porque durante el proceso de paz varios jefes ‘paras’ expresaron que no estaban dispuestos a entregar sus armas para terminar pagando altas condenas.

Según la representante Rocío Arias, esta decisión representa un incumplimiento de los acuerdos del proceso.

Aunque la Corte consideró que, en esencia, el trámite de Ley 975 del 2005 se ajustó a las normas, en tanto que no implica indultos ni amnistía para los actores armados, su fallo acoge muchos de los reclamos de quienes exigían restarles privilegios a los ‘paras’.

Uno de ellos, formulado por el procurador Edgardo Maya, pedía tumbar la posibilidad que tenían los miembros de este grupo de realizar una segunda confesión en caso de que se compruebe, luego de ser condenados bajo la ley, que participaron en otro delito que no fue declarado en laprimera confesión.

Ahora, el procesado que no confiese todos sus crímenes desde la primera vez perderá todos los beneficios.

Además, la Corte dejó sin piso la norma que les permitía acumular el tiempo que han pasado en la zona de ubicación (hasta 18 meses) como parte de la condena.

El fallo era esperado como el campanazo definitivo para aplicar la Ley. De hecho, ayer se completó el nombramiento de los ocho magistrados que juzgarán a los reinsertados.

Por ahora, lo único claro es que 2.180, de unos 36.000 desmovilizados, están en la lista que el Gobierno elaboró para juzgarlos bajo la norma. Solo falta que sea entregada a la Fiscalía para que se inicie el proceso.

6-3 fue el resultado de la votación de la Sala Plena que declaró exequible la Ley de Justicia y Paz. Los magistrados Alfredo Beltrán, Humberto Sierra y Jaime Araújo salvaron su voto.

2.180 es el número de desmovilizados de las Auc que el Gobierno presentó como posibles beneficiarios de la Ley de Justicia y Paz. Se han reinsertado 30.144.


Algunos de los jefes de las autodefensas que tienen condenas

Ellos no se beneficiarán de los beneficios de la Ley de Justicia y Paz.

Hernán Giraldo. El 17 de febrero de 1994 la Corte Suprema le fijó una pena de 20 años por las masacres de las fincas Honduras y La Negra, en la zona de Urabá.

Salvatore Mancuso. El 22 de abril del 2003, un juzgado de Antioquia lo condenó a 40 años por su participación en la masacre de El Aro, ocurrida en 1997.

Víctor Mejía Múnera. El 29 de diciembre del 2004 fue condenado a 9 años por enriquecimiento ilícito. La Policía le encontró una caleta de 35 millones de dólares.

Miguel Mejía. Sentenciado a 8 años de prisión por el mismo caso de la caleta de su hermano, encontrada en un apartamento en Bogotá el 24 de agosto del 2001.[U][B][/B][B]

[moribundo]

i hope that you all understand the spanish articles i post!
If not, post and i will add a small explanation in english!!

This is article above is about a sentence of the colombian corte constitucional, which says that the paramilitaries, which are already sentenced to a prison term, will get amnesty for this prison term!
the 4 guys at the end of ther article, are the ones, who will fall under this ruling. All of them are drug kingpins.

[moribundo]

10 members of a elite antinarcotics unit of the DIJIN and a civilian killed by a army unit
on Tuesday, 23 May in Jamundi, Valle de Cauca.
They were conducting a operation against a finca, known to be used by members of the org. of Diego Montoya- Sanchez.
First authorities talked about friendly fire and a mistake.
Know it became clear that the DIJIN guys hat identified themselves: "Somos de la Policia Judical... no disparen..tenemos familia..hijos" and they also wore DIJIN caps and jackets. No their are three possiblities: one which was mentioned by the press:
1. the army unit were misled by don diegos men, which told them some criminals want to kidnap a espanol, but they should have stopped shouting anyway after the identification.
2. a possiblity, which could stand alone or as part of option 1. : the military bataillon is know for his brutality, once they shoot 15 campesinos, saying they were Farcistas.
So they got in some bloodrush, killing all agentes after starting shouting!
3. they worked for the cartel and this was a hit. Media isn´t even considering this option yet. It´s a too hot potato (do u use this saying in english?).

Anyway this was a tragic incident and a huge loss for the DIJIN and whole Colombia.

Here are some :
articles on el tiempo.com

[moribundo]

1. A paramilitary and narco named "el indio" William Garcia, is connected to the case.
He was a comandante of the AUC bloque Calima. And is now (after the death of his former boss pajaro) boss of the Grau para-groups and associated with Don Diego Montoya Sanchez (narco boss,
fbi most wanted list).
2. 8 militaries who took part in the killing of the 10 policias are arrested. One of them is the
responsible comander for the batallon, coronel Caravajal!!!

It seems now like this was murder!!!!!!!!!
The dead were one of /the best antinarco units operating in Colombia.
Catching over 100ths of narcos and 21 extraditables (important narcos sought
for extradition by the US and other countries) in the last years.

[moribundo]

The “Indio” William –presumable chief of the Auc- will be the key in the death of the policemen in Jamundi


Blood and cartridges will prove that there was a third group in the place in where die 10 policemen on confrontations with the army.
The “Indio William”: was the name and the alias that a group of citizens gave to the president Uribe, when he travel to Cali to investigate about the episode in which 10 members of an elite anti-mafia group from the Dijin and an informant die on hands of 28 militaries.

As per the same sources, this personage was at 200 meters from the place in where die the policemen, a week ago, and witness saw him run on a motorcycle; it seems that he was the one that inform the army about the presence of the police.

Uribe gave this information to the authorities that finally could identify him.

Is William Garcia Alban, 36 years old, from Jamundi (Valle), that figure on the official files as the head of the self-defenses that operate in this rural zone.

“Bachelor, unemployed, single”, are some of the characteristics that could be read on his file that is attached to the capture order –from March 25, 2004- for the transgression of concert to transgress.

Garcia Alban is accused by the inhabitants of extortion to merchants and to disappear people in the path of Timba, between Valle and Cauca.

As per the authorities, he is now the maxim head of the Urban self-defense groups (Grau) one of the paramilitary blocks that emerge after the demobilization of the Auc.

The “Indio” was promoted to this position on April 14, 2004 after men from the extraditable Diego Montoya Sanchez, “Don Diego”, assassinate Edison Santamaria Sanchez, “El Pajaro”, head of this organization in that time.

Is curious, the death of el Pajaro –for an internal fight- occurred in the farm Cocodrilo II, located in Potrerito, in the same path in where die the policemen.

Since that time, el Indio, become on the second lieutenant of don Diego.

Blood and cartridges

His presences in the zone in which die the policemen become on one of the main clues to clarify these confuse actions.

To this is tie the recent finding of blood (that do not belong to any of the death ones) and many cartridges of a different caliper to the one used that day by the army and the anti-mafia group of the Dijin.

This will permit to conclude that there were third people in the place.

In this moment, is being verified if it is true that Garcia Alban watch the drug laboratories of Don Diego, and manage the collection offices as it is said on a inform that is in hands of the president.

In this inform highlight that Gabelo, Piti, el Mudo, and Arepa are the confidence men of El Indio. Arepa is his bodyguard and right hand and Gabelo command the zone of Suarez (Cauca).

About Piti and El Mudo, is known that participate on a massacre done on August 30, 2004 on a hotel in Jamundi, in which die six people. “They move on a Luv van double cabin and high cylinder motorcycles”, said the inform.

The last time that they were seen was last week in the road that takes to the path Guachinte, Jamundi, but relatives of Garcia Alban denies any tie with the delinquency.

“He has a pig farm and one year ago was captured, he clarifies the things with the attorney. The authorities do not want to permit that he work, but investigate, he is innocent”, said one of his relatives.

What is known that a year ago, William Garcia Alban, el Indio, was put in liberty after he was captured for manufacture and traffic of ammunitions for the paramilitarism. Now, he seems to be one of the main pieces to clarify what happen that day close to Jamundi.[B][U]

[moribundo]

add article
Don Diego Montoya denied any relationship to "el indio William" and any connection to the jamundi massacre in a message sent to the fiscalia general= general attorney!

[Hollander]

Fujimori questioned about alleged drug links

Wednesday, June 14, 2006; Posted: 3:10 p.m. EDT (19:10 GMT)

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) -- A Chilean judge questioned Peruvian ex-President Alberto Fujimori on Wednesday about possible links to the brother of slain Colombian cocaine lord Pablo Escobar.

Peruvian prosecutors are looking into allegations that Fujimori's political campaigns were financed with drug money from Escobar, who was killed by authorities in a rooftop shootout in 1993.

Escobar's brother, Roberto Escobar, has claimed that Colombia's Medellin cartel channeled money to Fujimori's now-imprisoned former spy chief and top aide, Vladimiro Montesinos.

Roberto Escobar, a former cartel lieutenant who was nearly blinded by a letter bomb in 1993, has provided no hard evidence of a link between the Medellin organization and Fujimori's government, which collapsed in 2000 amid corruption scandals.

Francisco Veloso, one of Fujimori's Chilean attorneys, said the Escobar case was one of two drug-related investigations that Peruvian authorities asked Chilean authorities to cover Wednesday during Fujimori's court appearance.

Fujimori, 67, told Judge Angelica Rodriguez that "his government tried to combat terrorism and drug trafficking" and had no link to the kingpins, Veloso said.

Fujimori's appearance was not related to the dozen corruption and human rights abuse charges filed by Peru seeking his extradition, Veloso said.

The Supreme Court freed Fujimori on bail in May after he had been detained for more than six months. He must be accompanied by police whenever he leaves his rented house in an exclusive Santiago neighborhood. (Full story)

He was arrested hours after his surprise arrival November 6 from exile in Japan as part of a plan to launch an electoral comeback in his homeland.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[moribundo]

additional info about the top anti narcomafia police officers Coronel Naranjos (Chief of the DIJIN)
brothers involvement into narcotrade:
ps: @Puparo, Caramelo, Montana to you know anything about the italians involved in the case??????

Junio 14 de 2006
Según Fiscalía alemana, hermano de Director de la Dijín preso en ese país era clave en red de narcos

La banda de cuatro italianos y cinco colombianos, de la que supuestamente hacía parte Juan David Naranjo, traficaba droga a Austria y Holanda.

Hace un mes, el general Óscar Naranjo, director de la Dijín de la Policía, evidentemente consternado, reveló ante la prensa la detención de su hermano Juan David en Alemania en posesión de un alijo de estupefacientes.

La Fiscalía del Estado Federado de Baden Würtenberg, que reveló las razones de la captura, lo sindica de narcotráfico en calidad de miembro activo de una banda internacional de tráfico de cocaína que llevaba droga desde Colombia hacia Europa.

La detención de Naranjo se produjo el 27 de abril en Colonia, cuando se disponía a negociar un alijo de 35 kilos de cocaína, para lo cual había sido enviado desde Madrid, donde residía en el momento, por orden de un jefe de la organización. Un vocero dijo que Naranjo era la “mano derecha” de ese jefe.

El general Naranjo, tal vez el oficial con más éxitos en la lucha antinarcóticos, señaló hace un mes que la detención de su hermano era una tragedia personal y familiar.

PATRICIA SALAZAR
PARA EL TIEMPO
DESDE BERLÍN

[moribundo]

Junio 22 de 2006
Desmantelan en Estados Unidos y Colombia una red de 29 personas dedicada al tráfico de heroína

Las capturas dejaron al descubierto nuevos nexos de ese tráfico clandestino. Entre los detenidos hay 9 extraditables.

Las capturas se produjeron tras seguimientos en tres capitales colombianas y en ciudades estadounidenses.

En una de las acciones, la investigación requirió nueve meses y estuvo a cargo de fiscales de la Unidad Nacional Antinarcóticos e Interdicción Marítima (Unaim), con el apoyo de la Dijín.

Según el informe oficial, se produjeron capturas en Bogotá, Medellín y Cali, donde cayeron nueve personas solicitadas en extradición por el Departamento de Justicia de E.U., dijo el director de la Policía, general Jorge Castro.

Son ellos Néstor Jaime Ocampo Ospina, Pedro Pablo Lemus Castillo, Luis Fernando Montoya Gómez, Jairo Márquez Serna, Yuri Marín Quintero, Biviana Marín Quintero, Larry Alberto Marín Quintero, Carlos Alberto Daza Mosquera y Juan Diego Villamil Medina.

Ellos serán sometidos a lo dispuesto en el Código de Procedimiento Penal para la aplicación de ese mecanismo de cooperación judicial.

En Nueva York, Miami, Tampa y Nueva Jersey fueron capturadas otras ocho personas.

En la segunda investigación, fiscalías especializadas de Cali
capturaron a 12 personas por concierto para delinquir con fines de narcotráfico y lavado de activos.

Como jefes de la red aparecen Carlos Alberto Daza y Juan Diego Villamil, detenidos por la Unaim, dijo el fiscal Mario Iguarán.

En este caso, como los hechos ocurrieron antes de la vigencia del nuevo sistema penal, se aplicarán normas mixtas de justicia, por lo cual los detenidos serán escuchados en indagatoria.

El director de la Dijín, general Óscar Naranjo, dijo que se descubrieron rutas de ‘mulas’ (correos humanos) que salían de Cali, Pereira y Bogotá en vuelos hacia E.U. y el regreso de la utilidad de la venta ilícita de estupefacientes por la modalidad de ‘pitufeo’(cobro de giros por varias personas).

En la operación hubo 32 allanamientos, entre la noche del martes y ayer. En noviembre otro operativo conjunto de Colombia y E.U. permitió capturar a 63 sospechosos.

9 personas pedidas en extradición hacen parte del grupo de capturados en las operaciones realizadas en tres ciudades colombianas. Las autoridades buscan otros nexos de estas organizaciones.

[Hollander]

Posted on Thu, Jul. 06, 2006email thisprint this
Drug mafia's infiltration of military grows clearer
By Steven Dudley

McClatchy Newspapers

(MCT)

BOGOTA, Colombia - It was a set of killings like few others in Colombia's long and violent history.

Many of the 11 dead were members of an elite police unit raiding a drug lord's lair. The shooters were army soldiers allegedly on the payroll of the accused trafficker, Diego Montoya, who is next to Osama bin Laden on the FBI's top 10 most wanted list.

The military called it a "friendly fire" incident. But the attorney general said it was a "massacre," and when a military tribunal tried to handle the case, his office took over the case in a rare show of legal muscle.

Indeed, the scandal surrounding the death of 10 members of the judicial police - known as DIJIN, its Spanish acronym - and an informant in early June has not only damaged the reputation of the army and the government, but also has raised questions over traffickers' infiltration of the government at a time when Colombia is seeking continued U.S. aid for the fight against illicit drugs.

Fifteen army members, including the officer in charge of the army battalion, already have been arrested, and there are indications that the investigation now is reaching higher in the military hierarchy - and may cross into police ranks.

"We are very concerned with Montoya's ability to infiltrate parts of government, military and police units," said Hank Twehues, an FBI agent based in Miami who has been tracking Montoya's activities for years.

The U.S. government gives Colombia close to $700 million per year to fight drug trafficking and guerrillas in its country of 41 million people. It has blocked aid to certain groups at times when it has deemed them to be compromised or to be violating human rights, and often sought to vet the recipients before releasing the aid.

Still, investigators like Twehues and DIJIN head Gen. Oscar Naranjo say that drug traffickers have long infiltrated police and army units to protect their merchandise and themselves.

"In some cases, they (police and soldiers) are passive participants," Naranjo said. "In other cases, there is a direct criminal penetration of the public institutions that basically conceal the activities of the mafia don by allowing him to do his work or, in some cases, being active participants with him in his work."

Over the years, Washington has rescinded the U.S. visas of several army officers suspected of involvement in drug trafficking. It also has opposed some police officers as they seek higher positions.

But the killing of the DIJIN agents in Jamundi, near the southern city of Cali, has opened the possibility of a massive breach in the army and possibly the police.

Seven of the 10 killed were part of an elite unit that had arrested more than 200 so-called "first-level" drug traffickers in the Cali area, including 23 who were extradited or are awaiting extradition to the United States.

The police went to the area with an informant who had also talked to the top army officer in the area, Col. Bayron Carvajal, an investigator told The Miami Herald, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. Carvajal has been arrested in connection with the Jamundi shootings, and is under investigation for a prior "friendly fire" incident that left two police officers dead.

And although the DIJIN unit did not inform the army of its arrival in the area, police officials say, a Carvajal cell phone text message to his underlings mentioned that "a chicken" was arriving, suggesting that he knew the informant and police were coming.

The Jamundi shootings occurred at dusk in a semirural area. The DIJIN officers were wearing clothes that clearly identified them as police. Seven of those killed were shot in the head, two were shot in the back and the informant received a coup de grace, investigators have reported.

No army solders were injured during the gun battle, and the crime scene appears to have been tampered with before any federal investigators arrived, Colombia's media has reported.

"First, it was an operation during daylight," Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos said in a radio interview. "Second, the agents were clearly identifiable but no one was left alive."

President Alvaro Uribe has offered rewards for information on the case and said he's giving it his highest priority.

Carvajal's lawyers say that the DIJIN agents should have notified the local authorities of their raid, and his brother, Juan Carlos, has told reporters that his army superiors should be worried about his brother's testimony - apparently hinting at corruption within the military.

Juan Carlos has also suggested high-ranking police officers were involved in drug trafficking in the Jamundi area, including killed members of the DIJIN unit.

It's not the first time that the police have faced accusations of drug trafficking. Several former agents once formed the core of the feared North Valley drug cartel, and part of it is still run by former policeman Wilber Varela.

The other part is allegedly run by Montoya, who authorities say operates in the Jamundi area. Investigators believe that Montoya, or more likely his cocaine, was the target of the DIJIN raid.

---

© 2006, The Miami Herald.

[moribundo]

EL RECICLAJE PARA

Informes de Inteligencia revelan que desmovilizados han creado 21 nuevos grupos para penetrar, entre otras, las grandes ciudades.



LOS ASISTENTES a la cumbre de la Junta Nacional de Inteligencia realizada el martes 30 de mayo en el Ministerio de Defensa, conocieron un informe confidencial bautizado como Bacrim -bandas criminales emergentes-. El documento, de más de 40 páginas, demuestra que en Colombia se abrió paso una tercera generación de paramilitares que busca copar los espacios dejados por los desmovilizados y hacerse a posiciones estratégicas en las viejas zonas de conflicto y en las grandes ciudades.

Las cifras contenidas en el informe Bacrim, que desde ese día quedó en manos de las Fuerzas Militares, el DAS y la Policía, revelan la existencia de 22 grupos ilegales nuevos, con 2.500 hombres en armas y células expansivas que edifican actualmente sus estructuras logísticas y militares a través de redes en otras tantas regiones del país. Son hombres que por ahora no muestran el perfil contraguerrillero de sus antecesores sino que parecen proclives a hacer alianzas con la intención de ganar mucho dinero.

Uno de los principales frentes de ese desdoblamiento es más evidente en tres de las más grandes ciudades del país -Bogotá, Medellín y Barranquilla-, con núcleos en las áreas industriales y comerciales (ver recuadro). "El fenómeno ha dejado de ser latente y ya está afectando la actividad económica -dijo uno de los analistas consultados por CAMBIO-. Llevados por eso, hay gerentes y directores de empresas que ya autorizaron la incorporación de desmovilizados a sus esquemas de seguridad, conscientes de que estos conocen como ninguno la lógica paramilitar".



La información contenida en el documento Bacrim, que luego fue confrontada y complementada con investigaciones de centros de pensamiento y ONG serias como la Coordinación Colombia, Europa, Estados Unidos, llegó la semana pasada a manos del Comisionado de Paz, Luis Carlos Restrepo, el Fiscal General, Mario Iguarán Arana, y el Defensor del Pueblo, Volmar Pérez Ortiz, entre otros altos funcionarios del Estado.

Fuentes de la Casa de Nariño, que no ocultaron la preocupación del alto Gobierno por lo que sucede, señalaron que las evidencias reveladas por el informe Bacrim empezaron a cambiar la percepción del comisionado Restrepo, hombre habitualmente discreto y silencioso, que el lunes 17 de abril dijo, con cierto orgullo, que "las Auc, las llamadas Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, se acabaron". Como si presintiera lo que sucedería poco tiempo después, Restrepo consideró necesario "hacerles un llamado a todos

los ciudadanos para que tengan eso muy presente, porque puede aparecer de pronto por allí un extorsionista que pretenda actuar a nombre de las Auc. Ellas ya no existen. La totalidad de grupos que conforman las Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia se desmovilizó y entregó sus armas".
El reciclaje 'para'

Los primeros asomos del reciclaje paramilitar fueron detectados en enero de 2005 en el nororiente del país, un mes después de la desmovilización del bloque Catatumbo, comandado por Salvatore Mancuso.

Según estableció CAMBIO, por aquellos días aparecieron en Tibú, Norte de Santander, 50 desmovilizados del Bloque Central Bolívar, al mando de un hombre conocido como Jairo, el sicario, quien dio origen a una organización denominada Las Águilas. Poco después la red creció y sus nacientes células quedaron en manos de mandos medios con un común denominador: eran renuentes a aceptar cualquier propuesta de paz y estaban dispuestos a explotar el know how disponible en materia de rutas para el narcotráfico y el ingreso de precursores químicos.

Las autoridades calculan que Las Águilas están conformadas por unos 150 hombres y sus comandos se diferencian por colores en cada región. Así, en Cúcuta se denominan Águilas Negras; en Ocaña, Águilas Doradas; Águilas azules en Tibú y rojas en la zona de El Tarra. Este comando paramilitar también apareció en Arauca, tras la desmovilización de los bloques liderados por los hermanos Mejía Múnera, Los Mellizos.



Uno de los episodios más crueles protagonizados por Las Águilas sucedió en Ocaña, Norte de Santander, a finales de febrero de este año, cuando Sinaí, uno de los jefes del grupo conformado por más de 100 hombres, citó a los comerciantes del pueblo a una reunión. Cuando todos estaban reunidos en una finca, Sinaí llamó a lista y luego les dio una orden a sus hombres para que golpearan en forma salvaje a una persona que estaba encapuchada en el suelo. "Luego nos dijo que eso nos pasaría a nosotros o a nuestras familias si nos negábamos a pagar la cuota o nos atrevíamos a denunciarlos", dijo un comerciante que asistió a la reunión.

Lo que ha ocurrido desde noviembre de 2003, cuando se inició el proceso de desmovilización paramilitar, les da la razón a varios comandantes de las autodefensas que previeron lo que podría suceder. Ernesto Báez, vocero político de las Auc, señaló en una entrevista radial que muchos reinsertados decidieron formar nuevos grupos paramilitares porque "nada esperan de una sociedad egoísta, oportunista y pusilánime". Agregó que sólo 1.500 de los 30.000 desmovilizados han recibido oportunidades laborales y explicó que "lo que ha pasado es que se desmovilizaron grupos de autodefensa y se reactivaron los paramilitares, como se puede ver con los poderosos ejércitos en el Valle, en la región del San Jorge y en el Catatumbo". Báez terminó la entrevista con una conclusión escalofriante: "Si no les ayudan a los desmovilizados, la generación paramilitar será más violenta y sanguinaria que las anteriores".

No menos concluyente fue Hernán Giraldo, comandante del Bloque Resistencia Tayrona, quien el 3 de febrero pasado, después de cumplidos los actos protocolarios de la desmovilización de los 1.166 hombres que estaban bajo su mando, les dijo en voz baja a varios asistentes que su grupo y algunas estructuras del bloque Norte guardarían, por si acaso, buena parte de sus armas para usarlas de nuevo si el Gobierno incumplía los acuerdos de Santa fe de Ralito. "Esto es por si nos toca reagruparnos", dijo.

Todo indica que sus palabras no se fueron con el viento porque el 24 de abril el Gaula del Ejército en Cesar, zona de influencia de Giraldo, hallaron una caleta en una finca del corregimiento Villa Germania, jurisdicción de Valledupar. Allí, perfectamente empacados, había 91 fusiles AK-97, dos ametralladoras M-60, cinco lanzagranadas, 320 granadas y 54.000 cartuchos que pertenecían al frente Mártires del Cesar, cuyo comandante era Adolfo Enrique Guevara, 101 o Iván, quien se desmovilizó el 10 de marzo en el corregimiento La Mesa, cerca de Valledupar.
EL EMPADRONAMIENTO ES SU NUEVO SISTEMA PARA IMPONER CUOTAS DE PRODUCCIÓN DE COCA.

Aun cuando el avance de los nuevos 'paras' parece incontenible, las autoridades les han dado uno que otro golpe. El 31 de mayo la Policía capturó en Ciénaga, Magdalena, a cinco hombres y una mujer que llevaban tres pistolas, una granada y uniformes de las Auc. Luego se comprobó que cuatro de los detenidos hicieron parte de bloque Resistencia Tayrona de las Auc. Dos días después, el 2 de junio, la II Brigada del Ejército capturó 16 personas cuando transitaban la vía que de Santa Marta conduce a Riohacha. Siete de los detenidos eran desmovilizados del bloque Wayú y tenían en su poder un lanzacohetes ruso, cuatro fusiles, 500 cartuchos y 20 uniformes de fatiga con brazaletes de las Auc.

Las nuevas estructuras paramilitares también han aparecido con fuerza en Puerto Libertador y Montelíbano, Córdoba. En 2005, dos docenas de hombres vestidos de civil, con armas cortas y radioteléfonos, irrumpieron en esas localidades para robar algunos establecimientos comerciales y amenazar a los pobladores. En diciembre del mismo año el grupo ya tenía en sus filas a más de 100 hombres uniformados y con fusiles.

En La Guajira, el grupo Contrainsurgencia Wayú -que se abstuvo de participar en el proceso de paz con el gobierno-, se fortaleció con el ingreso a sus filas de 80 desmovilizados del Bloque Norte. Su área de influencia es el corregimiento Bahía Portete, municipio de Uribia, y ya desató una guerra a muerte con las familias de la etnia indígena que ostentaba el control de las rutas de contrabando y tráfico de gasolina en la región.

"La reactivación del paramilitarismo en los departamentos de la región atlántica responde a la necesidad de conservar la participación que los antiguos grupos, asociados con cuestionados empresarios como Enilce López, La Gata, lograron consolidar en negocios legales e ilegales de la región", explica Jorge Calero, analista de la Defensoría del Pueblo.



En todo el país

Episodios ocurridos a lo largo y ancho del país demuestran que las conclusiones del documento Bacrim conocido por CAMBIO no fueron hechas al azar. Así por ejemplo, en la mañana del pasado 20 de enero la personera de Balboa, Cauca, cayó, junto con varios conductores, en un retén ilegal instalado en la vía que conduce al corregimiento de Patía. "Pensé que me iban a robar el carro, pero a los pocos minutos uno de los hombres armados se acercó a la ventanilla y se presentó como el comandante Cinco Cinco, del nuevo grupo paramilitar Bloque Central del Cauca - les contó la funcionaria a las autoridades-. Me entregó un volante en el que citaba a los habitantes de Balboa a una reunión que se realizaría el martes siguiente en un sector conocido como Lomitas, para cobrar una cuota a cambio de la protección que, a partir de la fecha, estaría a su cargo para librarnos de la guerrilla y la delincuencia común".

La historia de la personera coincide con el informe de riesgo 055-05 emitido por la Defensoría del Pueblo el 23 diciembre pasado, que menciona a este grupo, conformado por más de 150 hombres, como parte de ONG, Organización Nueva Generación Paramilitar, cuyo interés sería controlar el creciente negocio del narcotráfico en Cauca y Nariño .

En Nariño también apareció otro grupo llamado Recomposición Paramilitar. Ocurrió el pasado 8 de mayo durante la marcha que 4.000 campesinos de los municipios de Cumbitara, Policarpa, Iscuandé y Maguí realizaron para bloquear la carretera Panamericana con el fin de llamar la atención del Gobierno Nacional. Los marchantes denunciaron haber recibido amenazas de los jefes paramilitares Johny 20, Pedro, Raúl, Alex Medellín y alias El Águila, pertenecientes al desmovilizado Frente Libertadores del Sur, que alguna vez hizo parte del Bloque Central Bolívar. " Nos acusan de ser simpatizantes de la guerrilla y nos están exigiendo abandonar nuestros pueblos lo antes posible -explicó a CAMBIO uno de los manifestantes-. Dijeron ser de un grupo nuevo llamado Recomposición Paramilitar ".

Como señaló Báez en la entrevista radial, el reciclaje paramilitar también se ha dado en el Valle del Cauca, donde quedaron rezagos de la desmovilización del Bloque Calima, el 18 de diciembre de 2004, y del Frente Pacífico, el 25 de agosto de 2005. En esa zona, que cubre el litoral pacífico hasta Buenaventura, se desató una cruenta confrontación entre más de 250 paramilitares que se quedaron por fuera del proceso. Varios de sus desmovilizados regresaron a las armas para frenar la reconquista, por parte de las Farc, de los espacios donde antes crecieron al amparo del narcotráfico. Sólo en 2005, esta guerra dejó alrededor de 500 muertos, 50 desaparecidos y 2.500 desplazados.

El nuevo paramilitarismo tiene muy preocupada a la Organización de Estados Americanos, OEA, que desde el primer momento ha acompañado el proceso de desmovilización. En un informe publicado a finales de marzo, la OEA se refiere al reciclaje paramilitar y asegura que los bloques Central Bolívar y Montes de María no desmovilizaron toda su tropa sino que dejaron retaguardias con las que siguen administrando laboratorios y procesando narcóticos. Y va más allá al advertir que en la desmovilización del bloque Héroes de Tolová, el 15 de junio de 2005, no estuvieron todos los paramilitares que debían acogerse al proceso de paz. La misión del organismo internacional acogió también varias denuncias contra bandas de desmovilizados en Córdoba, Meta, Valle y Nariño.

Para la OEA es claro que esta nueva generación de paramilitares no tiene otro objetivo que mantener el control de zonas productoras de coca y las rutas que permiten su comercialización. "Ya no usan camuflados, pero mantienen el control sobre la población civil de la zona. Y hasta realizaron un empadronamiento para imponer cuotas de producción de coca", dice el informe.
¿Qué pretenden?

Las anteriores revelaciones pintan un preocupante panorama. Primero, por lo que significan en cuanto a la entrada en actividad de más de 20 nuevos grupos paramilitares en diferentes regiones del país y, en especial, en las grandes ciudades, donde pretenden imponer su ley basados en la amenaza y el terror. Y segundo, porque demuestran que quienes, desde que cuando el proceso con las Auc se inició hace ya más de dos años, denunciaron que muchos jefes paramilitares no tenían una verdadera voluntad de desarme, reconciliación y sometimiento a las leyes, tenían razón.

¿Qué buscan quienes, después de desmovilizarse, se reciclan ahora en nuevos grupos? Hay que decir que una de las razones por las cuales esto está sucediendo es que los mecanismos de reinserción de la tropa y los mandos medios paramilitares no están funcionando. De ahí que cientos de quienes en estos años han participado en los muy publicitados actos de desarme y desmovilización, hayan resuelto continuar en la actividad delictiva.

Pero el problema no tiene que ver solamente con los muy deficientes programas de reinserción. La verdad es que, a la luz de la información disponible, varios jefes paramilitares han resuelto mantener activos grupos de retaguardia, a la espera de que las autoridades judiciales comiencen a aplicar la ley de Justicia y Paz, una norma que, sobre todo después del fallo de la Corte Constitucional, muy poco parece convencer a los jefes de las Auc.

Sea como fuere, el Gobierno tiene la obligación de cortar de raíz este proceso de reciclaje paramilitar. Para ello, debe seguir avanzando en la identificación de los nuevos grupos y en la captura de sus cabecillas que, como es obvio, ya no podrán beneficiarse de las rebajas contempladas en la ley de Justicia y Paz. Pero además, debe advertir a los comandantes concentrados en Santa fe Ralito que, si este reciclaje continúa, no sólo quienes lo protagonicen estarán en peligro de que caiga sobre ellos todo el peso de la ley, sin rebajas ni beneficios. Mucho más grave: el proceso mismo estará en duda y, con él, la suerte de los comandantes que, al inicio de los diálogos, le dijeron al Gobierno y al país que ellos mandaban sobre sus tropas y estaban en capacidad de desmovilizarlas.




El foco `para' sobre la ciudad

EL EPICENTRO DEL REARME paramilitar en Bogotá se ha situado en el sector Altos de Cazuca, en límites de la localidad Ciudad Bolívar y el vecino municipio de Soacha. Desde septiembre de 2005, 25 líderes comunitarios han sido desaparecidos y por lo menos cinco de ellos asesinados allí por un grupo que se presenta como Bloque Central Santander y está conformado por miembros de los bloques Capital y Centauros de las AUC, desmovilizados el 4 de septiembre de 2005.

Monitoreos realizados por la Defensoría del Pueblo coinciden con algunos informes de Inteligencia consultados por CAMBIO en la existencia de ése y de otro grupo llamado Bloque Guaviare, que están retomando las posiciones ganadas por el Bloque Capital en las zonas industriales y comerciales de la ciudad. El grupo emergente sacó provecho de la acefalía en la que quedó Capital después del asesinato de su jefe Miguel Arroyave.

El rearme de los grupos paramilitares en Medellín se siente en barrios como La Mano de Dios y las comunas tres, ocho y 13, donde comandos de los extintos bloques Nutibara y Héroes de Granada, desmovilizados en noviembre de 2003, se han reagrupado para reestablecer allí el control territorial, cobrar vacunas, hacer reclutamiento forzado y reabrir las oficinas de cobro. Estas estructuras también se están gestando en las universidades con el fin de amenazar a estudiantes, maestros, sindicalistas y defensores de derechos humanos. Los informes de Inteligencia y el monitoreo del Sistema de Alertas Tempranas (SAT) de la Defensoría del Pueblo coinciden al mencionar la aparición de un grupo creado con ese fin, que se llama Autodefensas Unidas de la Universidad de Antioquia.

Los nuevos grupos de paramilitares en Barranquilla se están adueñando de barrios populares como La Chinita, Barranquillita y los municipios vecinos de Soledad y Malambo. La banda, conformada por desmovilizados del Bloque Norte, está al mando de Carlos Arturo Posada Florez, pero realmente obedece órdenes de Jorge 40. Se ha especializado en oficinas de cobro, extorsión a comerciantes, muerte a sindicalistas, lavado de activos y en prestar seguridad a importantes empresas.

[Hollander]

Spain says arrests Colombian drug lord Vargas
Reuters
MADRID - Spanish police have arrested one of Colombia's most famous drug lords and could offer him up to other countries who want to extradite the former ally of dead drugs boss Pablo Escobar, police said on Monday.

Police caught Leonidas Vargas as he emerged from a Madrid hotel and arrested him for carrying a fake Venezuelan passport.


Vargas once headed the Caqueta drug cartel in the southwest of Colombia. He was arrested and served time in jail from 1993.


He had worked for the late Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, one of Colombia's most feared drug traffickers, and then for Medellin cartel boss Escobar, who was killed by police in 1993.


After his arrest on Saturday, High Court Judge Fernando Andreu ordered Vargas be jailed while authorities examined whether he faced outstanding charges.


"He's in prison while we wait to see if the Colombian authorities (and other countries) tell us if they have some case here," a police spokesman said.


Colombian police said that, as yet, they had found no record of current investigations against Vargas, but he has been sought previously by several other countries, including the United States -- a strong critic of the sometimes-lavish conditions granted to Colombia's jailed drug barons.


In 1997, Vargas managed to record an album of Mexican-style "ranchera" music despite being locked away in a Bogota's maximum security Modelo prison.


(Additional reporting by Luis Acosta in Bogota)

[Hollander]

Colombian's Trafficking, Laundering Trial Opens
By ELAINE SILVESTRINI , The Tampa Tribune
Tampa Bay Online
TAMPA - Purported to be "one of the largest cocaine traffickers in Colombia, if not the world," Joaquin Mario Valencia-Trujillo imported hundreds of tons of the drug into the United States for decades, a federal prosecutor told jurors Monday.

The biggest catch for the investigators of "Operation Panama Express," Valencia, 48, is standing trial on charges including drug trafficking and money laundering. The Tampa-based investigation, which has spanned more than a decade, is said by officials to be one of the most extensive drug trafficking investigations in U.S. history.

Valencia's organization was cunning and violent, employing hit teams to kill potential witnesses and adapting in the face of heat from law enforcement by constantly changing smuggling routes, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph K. Ruddy said. The prosecutor described a creative smuggling organization that frequently switched methods of exporting hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States and millions of dollars in currency back to Colombia. When airdrops were foiled by authorities, smugglers turned to the seas. When one maritime route was shut down, traffickers invented another.

Valencia's attorney, Matthew Farmer, told jurors in his opening statement that the defense team will vigorously dispute all the allegations made by the prosecution. Farmer said the government's only evidence will come from the mouths of drug traffickers who have cut deals with the government and want to save themselves by making Valencia serve the prison sentences they deserve.

Farmer also stressed to jurors what they have already been told by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich - that they cannot convict Valencia of any crimes committed before Dec. 17, 1997. A provision in the Colombian Constitution prohibits extradition for crimes committed before then.

Valencia, a multimillionaire known for breeding rare show horses, is accused of being a leader in the Cali Cartel. His estate in Cali is known as "Casa Blanca," or the White House, Ruddy told jurors. "It doesn't really look like our White House," Ruddy said. "It looks more like our Pentagon. But evidence will show you that it is the house that cocaine built."

Valencia exported cocaine to Miami, Houston, New York, Los Angeles and Tampa, with his involvement in drug trafficking dating back 30 years, Ruddy said. The furthest back investigators can trace Valencia's activities is the late 1970s, when Valencia was 20 or 21 years old, Ruddy said.

"Even at that time, the defendant was considered a large cocaine trafficker," the prosecutor said, and he earned the nickname "El Jovan," or "the young man."

Ruddy said Manuel Garces, one of the founders of the Medellin Cartel, introduced Valencia and Valencia's older brother, Guillermo, to Salvador Magluda and Willie Falcon, two drug traffickers in Miami. With Valencia's help, the two men became the largest cocaine distributors in the United States. At one point in 1983 or 1984, their demand outstripped Valencia's supply, and they briefly turned to the Medellin Cartel, Ruddy said.

But Valencia increased his capacity and was able to supply Magluda and Falcon for distribution in Miami, Houston, Los Angeles and New York, Ruddy said.

When Magluda and Falcon were indicted in the late 1980s or early 1990s, Valencia's head of security, known as "Tocayo," hired hit teams to go to Miami to kill witnesses, Ruddy said. Four out of 12 witnesses the organization targeted were killed, the prosecutor said.

Ruddy described Valencia's frequent explorations of different ways to export the drug, starting with airplanes, which became untenable because of law enforcement attention.

Various shipping routes and vessels were tried and dropped as each method was disrupted by authorities, Ruddy said. In 1988 or 1989, Valencia joined forces with Jose Castrillon-Henao and Pedro Navarette, the operators of a fishing company in Buena Ventura on the west coast of Colombia.

They developed a route in which empty fishing vessels left Buena Ventura and headed south, Ruddy said. The vessels met up with smaller boats carrying loads of cocaine off the coast of Ecuador, then headed south toward the Galapagos Islands, where they knew U.S. law enforcement wasn't watching. Then they headed north to a point several hundred miles off Mexico, where they met other vessels that took the shipments to Mexico for export to the United States.

Using this method, Ruddy said, Valencia's organization smuggled 100 tons of cocaine into the United States every year.

In January 1992, Valencia was unhappy that he had to pay "exorbitant" fees to Mexican smugglers, Ruddy said. So he bought two freighters. One ship, the Harbor, was seized by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1993, Ruddy said, and Valencia then got rid of the other freighter.

Castrillon was arrested in 1995 and Navarette the next year. Valencia hired attorneys for the two men and did everything he could to free them, including trying to bribe officials in Panama, where Castrillon was being held, Ruddy said. In September 1997, Navarette escaped from prison in Ecuador, but he was arrested again in September 2002 in Medellin.

In the late '90s, Valencia was smuggling with freighters leaving the north coast of Colombia with cocaine destined for various points, including Tampa, Ruddy said. One freighter laden with several tons of cocaine was unloaded near Tampa in 1999 or 2000, Ruddy said.

But New York "was always Mario Valencia's largest market," where cocaine commanded the highest price and yielded the greatest profit, Ruddy said.

The first prosecution witness, Ramon Orozco Mejia, testified he smuggled about 15 loads of cocaine - from 150 to 500 kilograms - to New York for Valencia's organization between 1998 and 2000.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at esilvestrini@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7837.

[moribundo]

Vargas arrested??

This grandpa is still in action?? this was like one of the founders of the coke trade, praehistoric times! the one who started coca farming in colombia! a living legend! an ancestor! in business when the rodriguez still studied chemistry and escobar was stealing cars!!!

@hollander to you have more info about this case?

i almost feel sorry for mario valencia!
another time dea and other law enforcement are hyping a case, and make some little narco to another pablo escobar.
manipulate some witnesses, make some lsd driven press release, give more pills to the state attorney and let him quak quak about 10 of 100 of tons, 80% of us supply bla bla! that´s how you create 1, 2, thousand escobars! that´s how you get reeaally big cases! and with BIG cases comes BIG budget!
and it´s all about the budget in us agencies and bureaucracies (from pentagon to the dea).
if all this big case would be so big, as thedea supposes, every us citizen would have to snort nearly a kilo a day, to consume all that coke that would be imported to the US!!

[Hollander]

Cae 'El Viejo', un peligroso 'narco' colombiano vinculado al cártel de Medellín



Agentes de la UDYCO (Unidad de Drogas y Crimen Organizado), de la Policía Judicial, han detenido, a las puertas de un hotel de Madrid, a Leonidas Vargas, 'El Viejo', un importante narcotraficante colombiano por el que se ofrecía una recompensa de 5 millones de dólares y que estaba entre los 19 delincuentes más buscados por Colombia. El detenido, de 57 años, tenía pasaporte venezonalo falso. Al comprobarse la verdadera identidad del detenido, la Policía lo puso a disposición de la Audiencia Nacional y el juez de instrucción Fernando Andreu acordó su ingreso en prisión a la espera de conocer si Vargas está reclamado por la justicia de su país.

Vargas está considerado un 'importante 'cabecilla' del narcotráfico en Colombia, relacionado con el desarticulado cartel de Medellín, dirigido por Pablo Escobar, según las citadas fuentes. Nacido en mayo de 1949, Vargas, alias 'El Viejo' o 'Paras de Alicate', que es al parecer el jefe de los cárteles del Caquetá y del sur del país, fue condenado a 19 años de prisión por delitos de narcotráfico y a otros 26 años de cárcel por homicidio, porte ilegal de armas y enriquecimiento ilícito, penas por las que estuvo recluido en varios centros de máxima seguridad en Colombia. Además, fue acusado de intentar asesinar al candidato presidencial del Partido Liberal de Colombia, el ex ministro Horacio Serpa, cuando se encontraba en la prisión de La Modelo (Bogotá).

Por otra parte, agentes de Vigilancia Aduanera de la Agencia Tributaria y de la Guardia Civil de Madrid, en colaboración con la Agencia Antidroga norteamericana (la famosa DEA) se han incautado en Las Rozas de 780 kilos de cocaína que transportaban seis personas en una furgoneta de alquiler. Los hechos sucedieron el pasado sábado cuando se iba a proceder a hacer la entrega del alijo ¿20 fardos de arpillera¿. El volumen de lo decomisado, cercano a la tonelada, no es nada desdeñable, sobre todo, por el lugar en donde se intervino, el interior de la Península. Su valor en el mercado hubiera alcanzado los 50 millones de euros.

La operación, bautizada como Ascensor-Palacio, comenzó a principios del pasado mes de febrero. Se sospecha que el origen del 'polvo blanco' es Bogotá y que tras su llegada hasta algún punto de Portugal, fue trasladada en un vehículo hasta la capital española. Según se cree, la mercancía fue trasladada desde el país lusitano hasta Madrid en una furgoneta, en 20 fardos con envoltorio de artillería por lo que es posible se introdujeran por vía marítima. Ante las conexiones internacionales de la supuesta red de narcotraficantes se pusieron en marcha todos los dispositivos; así, se contó con el apoyo de la Agencia Antidroga de Estados Unidos (DEA).

Las pesquisas condujeron la noche del pasado sábado hasta las inmediaciones de la carretera de La Coruña, junto a dos centros comerciales ¿Heron City y Las Rozas Village¿, en donde se iba a proceder al intercambio de la droga.

'Polvo blanco' y dinero

Allí la Guardia Civil procedió a la detención de la mitad de la banda, y horas después arrestó a los otros dos. El último, un abogado español, se entregó el domingo, ya que sabía que iba a correr la misma suerte. Su despacho ha sido registrado en espera de más pistas.

Terra Actualidad - Vocento/VMT



Wanted Colombian drugs baron is arrested

11 July 2006

MADRID — One of the most wanted Colombian drugs barons Leonidas Vargas Vargas was arrested in Madrid, police said on Tuesday.

Vargas was detained at the entrance to a hotel, carrying a forged Venezuelan passport.

According to police, once Vargas' true identity was established he was arrested.

An investigating magistrate Fernando Andreu agreed to confine hold Vargas in custody while checks are done on whether he is wanted in Colombia and other countries.

Vargas, for whom the Bogota administration is offering a USD 5 million reward, is considered an important ringleader of Colombian drug trafficking and was involved in the dismantled Medellin Cartel, according to police sources.

Born in 1949, Vargas appears to be the head of the Caqueta cartels in the southern part of the country.

He was sentenced to 19 years in jail for drug-trafficking and another 26 years for crimes of murder, carrying arms illegally and illicit earnings, for which he served time in several of Colombia's maximum-security prisons.

He was also accused of trying to kill former Liberal Party presidential candidate and ex-Minister Horacio Serpa.

The drug ring in which Vargas operates is accused of shipping cocaine to the United States through Honduras from the jungles of Caqueta in the southwestern region of Colombia.

[Hollander]

Drug baron's ally on trial for killing of political rival
By Anastasia Moloney in Bogota
Published: 13 July 2006
Colombia has been gripped by a trial that has sent it back into the dark days of Pablo Escobar, when the drug baron ruled much of the country from his stronghold in Medellin.

In the dock, and in front of national television cameras, is Alberto Santofimio, the former justice minister who is charged with plotting to kill a presidential candidate and using the drug cartel's hitmen to do it.

The hearings, billed by local media as the "most transcendent in decades", centre on the assassination of Luis Carlos Galan, who had been widely expected to become president in 1989, until he was gunned down at an election rally in Bogota.

Mr Galan had pledged during his campaign to send drug barons to stand trial in the US, a stance that earned him powerful enemies among Colombia's notorious drug cartels.

Mr Santofimio was arrested in May. The prosecution's star witness is John Jairo Velasquez, known as Popeye, a former hit man employed by Escobar.

Velasquez, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence, is the only criminal convicted in connection with the politician's murder who remains alive. Other hit men involved in Mr Galan's murder have been killed. Last year, he issued a damning statement from a maximum security jail, which accused Mr Santofimio of urging Escobar to murder the popular presidential candidate.

On the first day of the trial, the accused and the accuser met in a small nondescript courtroom amid tight security. A confident Velasquez, wearing a bullet-proof vest and holding his published memoirs in one hand, told the courtroom that Mr Santofimio was the, "intellectual author behind the assassination of Galan". Mr Galan's widow and three sons were there.

Throughout the trial, the prosecutor has attempted to prove that Mr Santofimio had close ties with Escobar and said the two met several times. The prosecutor has insisted that Mr Santofimio was, in fact, the "political adviser" to the mafia boss who told him to kill Mr Galan so as to avoid possible extradition to the US. The prosecutor said: "It remains absolutely clear the perverse influence Santofimio had over the criminal mind of Escobar. This was fundamental, definitive and a determining factor in his [Escobar's] decision to assassinate Galan." The prosecutor's case centres around an alleged meeting between Escobar and the former minister in which Velasquez claims Mr Santofimio said: "Kill him, Pablo."

Mr Santofimio has already been implicated in having close dealings with drug traffickers. In 1995, he was convicted of receiving money from drug barons for which he served a four-year prison term.

During the 1980s, Escobar unleashed a bloody reign of terror to pressure the government to prohibit extradition. During this war, police officers, ministers, judges and journalists were murdered along with hundreds of innocents who died in bomb attacks in Medellin and Bogota, orchestrated by the drug cartels. Escobar was hunted down and shot dead by police in December 1993.

The trial wrapped up with Mr Santofimio giving a six-hour monologue, during which he reiterated his innocence and insisted he had broken ties with the cartel years before the assassination.The outcome of the trial rests on whether Velasquez is to be believed or not.

The verdict is not expected for several months.

[moribundo]

Adds for the colombian cases:

VARGAS CASE

DIJIN says Vargas "el viejo" isn´t searched by colombian authorities, he just has to fear a spanish indictment because of faked passport.

There is some deal maked now, i remember 100% that vargas was on the dijin most wanted list a half year ago! 100%! And i can´t believe there is no case on him in colombia!!

Leonidas Vargas no tiene procesos con la justicia colombiana

Redacción Internet
El presunto narcotraficante Leonidas Vargas Vargas alias “El viejo” no figura en la lista de los narcotraficantes más buscados del país. Vargas fue detenido por las autoridades españolas en posesión de un pasaporte falso de origen venezolano.

Oscar Naranjo, Director de la Dijín, reportó que Leonidas Vargas no tiene antecedentes con la justicia colombiana, hecho que lo deja a disposición de la Audiencia Nacional en España.

Quienes figuran en la lista de los narcotraficantes más buscados del país son Diego León Montoya, alias "Don Diego"; Wilber Alirio Varela, alias "Jabón"; Carlos Alberto Rentería, Orlando Sabogal Zuluaga; Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía, alias "Chupeta"; y Jaime Maya Durán. Por cada uno de estos se ofrece una recompensa de cinco millones de dolares.

El capo no tiene ningún requerimiento actual por la justicia colombiana. Por ahora, aguarda la decisión de las autoridades españolas respecto a su porte de documentación falsa.


THE GALAN CASE

newest thing on the case against santofimio:

Virginia Vallejo, ex diva de la televisión colombiana, tendría pruebas que implican a Alberto Santofimio en el homicidio de Luis Carlos Galán

Así lo manifestó el periodista del Nuevo Herald, Gonzalo Guillén, en diálogo con Caracol Radio. El comunicador hizo un reportaje sobre Vallejo y su relación sentimental con Pablo Escobar.

Vallejo dijo en el reportaje tener secretos del Cartel de Medellín y su líder, Pablo Escobar, de quien fue su amante, y donde queda en evidencia la conducción intelectual del ex ministro Alberto Santofimio Botero en el asesinato de Galán y Rodrigo Lara Bonilla.

De acuerdo con el periodista, Vallejo le ofreció dar testimonio sobre lo que sabe a la Fiscalía. Sin embargo, y a pesar de que será escuchada por el ente acusador, el ex vice Fiscal general de la Nación, Francisco José Sintura, dijo en diálogo con la misma cadena radial que "desde la órbita de jurídica, no se podría tener en consideración esta declaración porque la prueba se presenta de manera tardía, cuando el juez se apresta a dictar sentencia, y por consiguiente no habría lugar para que la defensa pudiera controvertir ese testimonio". Se espera qe dicha sentencia se conozca en los próximos día


What i´m wondering about this whole case is that, they make once again escobar the responsible narco for this murder.

BUT: the killers of GALAN were Paras from the Magdalena Medio, which were under the orders of "el mexicano" Gacha Rodriguez and Henry Perez!
Galan was killed by Galil rifles, which were smuggeld in to colombia over the israeli yair klein (israeli ex-special forces hero) for gacha (it was proved that the galan weapons were part of that shipment).
Intercepted comunications, reports from witnesses and informants, everything proved that Gacha and not Don Pablo was ordering this killing.

And now suddenly old witnesses/ survivers of Pablos group tell a whole diffrent story??
There are a lot of questions now!
Is this now a intrigue to topple Santofimio?
If yes, who is behind this? Or better, who can manipulate Popeye and the other witnesses? The GOV, DIJIN, jinetes of military/ intelligence?
Or did Santofimio and Escobars men used the men and wepons of Gacha (which died in the same year 89, traitor was Henry Perez), to make him look responsible?
Did they know Perez will sell him out, only months later? Did they plan with Perez to sell the Mexican? Did Santofimio than cover up his and escobars involvment?