List of colombian cartels. José Santacruz Londoño (1943–1996) was a Colombian drug lord from Santiago de Cali. Oct 24, 2019 · The cartel was initially led by Juan García Abrego, the first Mexican drug lord to be included in the FBI's 10 most wanted list. Summary. [1] The trade eventually created a new social class and influenced several Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Its founders were the brothers Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela , Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela and José Santacruz Londoño . " It is these groups, which finance themselves mainly through drug trafficking, that are behind much of the violence Oct 24, 2021 · Colombia's most wanted drug trafficker and the leader of the country's largest criminal gang has been captured. Embassy Bogotá compiled a list of Colombian politicians “suspected of having ties to drug trafficking. May 7, 2024 · Colombia's four main illegal armed groups grew during 2023 as they consolidated territorial control financed by drug trafficking and illicit gold extraction, according to a secret security report May 5, 2022 · A man accused of leading a Colombian cartel was extradited to face federal drug-trafficking charges in Brooklyn, ending a yearslong effort to hobble an organization that a federal prosecutor said Jan 3, 2024 · Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has been looking to cement a “total peace” plan in the South American country by negotiating peace agreements with all of its armed groups, including leftists guerrillas and trafficking organizations. The US government is offering a reward of $5 million for information leading to his capture. The Cali cartel was on that list, the Consolidated Priority Organization Target or CPOT list. Department of the Treasury today removed 308 individuals and entities from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list (SDN List). The trio was profiled in a Time magazine cover story in July 1991. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) track down Escobar. 8, 2023, in federal dustries. The illegal drug trade in Colombia has, since the 1970s, centered successively on four major drug trafficking cartels: Medellín, Cali, Norte del Valle, and North Coast, as well as several bandas criminales, or BACRIMs. Colombian Marijuana Colombian marijuana continued to be a problem in the early 1980s as Colombia-based traickers brought boatloads of high- Aug 5, 2024 · At the international level, Mexican cartels began to take on a much larger role in the late 1980s, after U. Such lords are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly in possession of something illegal but are insulated from the actual trade in drugs by several layers of staff. [7] The Medellín cartel differed to smaller cartels, as it was extremely organised and vastly influential within its varied socio-economic spheres, corrupting Colombia over a course of almost 20 years. Juan is the older brother and the head of the household, followed by his brothers Óscar and Franco and the youngest being Libya. This undated photo provided by the U. Extorting money. O. Takeaway 1: Colombia has a dark history of notorious drug lords. This action — the largest single delisting in the history of Treasury’s sanctions programs The Reyes brothers fled violence by losing their parents and their property. Jul 22, 2024 · The leader of Colombia’s largest and most feared cartel, the Urabenos, Usuga is one of the biggest drug lords in the world right now. They arrived in Bogota ready to start over. The Clan del Golfo (English: The Gulf Clan), also known as Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – AGC) and formerly called Los Urabeños and Clan Úsuga, is a prominent Colombian neo-paramilitary group and currently the country's largest drug cartel. The names that come to mind are Pablo Escobar and Otoniel. From Hollywood movies to binge-worthy TV shows, stories of Colombian narcotraficantes waging war against state agents and civilians are profitable narrative devices of our times. Jul 12, 2024 · Since 2013, the US government has included the Gulf Clan on the so-called Clinton List, that is, the red list of companies and individuals linked to drug trafficking money. José Santacruz-Londoño. Dec 14, 2023 · Leaked documents provide a rare window into a little-known program in which U. Inclusion on the list is a strategic blow to the organization, not only because it is classified as a “drug trafficking group” or “drug cartel”, but also because all Apr 17, 2023 · Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar helped create and run the notorious Medellín cartel and was responsible for killing thousands of people. [12] May 25, 2018 · In January 1992, seven months after the surrender of Medellín cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar, the U. Feb 2, 2024 · Key Takeaways – Top Colombian drug lords. Moving drugs between provinces. He was captured in 1996 and jailed for life in the US. One of the tools developed was a unified national law enforcement list of the most significant drug and money laundering targets. ) 14059. sufered badly from the cartel’s presence as local drug gangs began to form, communities were terrorized, and drug use among teens continued to climb. The drug war on the U. Apr 24, 2023 · Over the last 20 years, Colombia’s drug trade has fragmented. The drug wars in Colombia began years before the cocaine lords launched a crusade against The Medellín Cartel (Spanish: Cártel de Medellín) was a powerful and highly organized Colombian drug cartel and terrorist organization originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia, that was founded and led by Pablo Escobar. The Gulf Cartel is a formidable and violent organisation with a great deal of power. , Tuesday, Aug. Those sanctioned today operate under the Los Chapitos faction of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. But beyond the screen, the history is not as clear-cut or simple. Long dubbed the Cali cartel as "Colombia's Gentlemen Cocaine Traffickers. Jan 5, 2023 · Former presidents Belisario Betancur and Cesar Gaviria both initiated negotiations with multiple insurgent groups, and the latter even negotiated with the Medellín drug cartel, private militias and the Coordinadora Nacional Guerrillera (CNG), a group that sought to unite Colombia’s guerrilla factions. Dario Antonio ‘Otoniel’ Úsuga is the leader of Colombia’s largest and most feared cartel, the Urabeños. , April 15, 2024 – A highly sensitive blacklist of allegedly corrupt Colombian officials assembled by the U. [6] The Colombian Army operates the TAR-21 for their special forces, in the army, marines and in the Colombian national police. This represents the first expansion of Treasury's SDNT list to reach beyond the Cali cartel. Did You Know? A fictional "Tijuana cartel" headed by a character named Obregon was featured battling a fictional "Juarez cartel" in the 2000 motion picture Traffic. A native Colombian explains how safe to travel is Colombia in the present 2013. The names The Medellín Cartel and other cartels came under pressure from the U. Drug Cartel Movies. Juarez is responsible for smuggling tons of narcotics into the United States since the 1980s. 00:19 For years, the man known as Otoniel was seen as one of the world's most dangerous drug lords, the elusive boss of a Aug 8, 2023 · The leader of a prominent Colombian criminal group who pleaded guilty to U. ” (Archived Content) Record Removal Demonstrates Successful Use of Targeted Sanctions to Dismantle the Cali Cartel Network WASHINGTON – The U. Since 1974 limited progress has been made on those issues; however, the Colombian economy has grown despite Aug 30, 2021 · (Archived Content)The Treasury Department announced today it had added the names of fronts for two of Colombia's leading drug traffickers to the department's list of Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNT), a list designed to apply ecomonic sanctions against the Colombian cartels. Gangsters by organization. For all of them, Mr Molano has one message: "Surrender, or we'll hunt you down. He died in 1993. The cartel and its origins have also been portrayed in the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico. Stacks of cocaine seized by the Colombian police. The arrest of Montoya and the murder of Varela closed a small chapter in Colombia’s cocaine war; however, officials believe remaining cartel members may fight for leadership of the organization. Apr 15, 2024 · Washington, D. Responsible for a significant portion of the illicit fentanyl and other deadly May 17, 2018 · Both were later sanctioned for “for materially assisting the narcotics trafficking activities of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a narco-terrorist organization. gov. George Parker Skipper from Back Arse Of Nowhere. What started as a small cocaine smuggling business has, in the One escalation in this conflict is the traffickers' use of new means to claim their territory and spread fear. C. Aug 30, 2024 · Griselda Blanco (born February 15, 1943, Santa Marta?, Colombia—died September 3, 2012, Medellín) was a Colombian cocaine trafficker who amassed a vast empire and was a central figure in the violent drug wars in Miami in the 1970s and ’80s. Illegal drug trade in Colombia. Apr 12, 2022 · Mexican drug cartels appear to be shipping high-powered weapons to Colombia to purchase shipments of cocaine, a trade Colombian authorities say is fueling the deadly struggle between rival Aug 8, 2023 · A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 16 of the New York edition with the headline: Head of Colombian Cartel Described as ‘Most Violent’ Is Sentenced to 45 Years. . In August, Colombia’s Council on Economic and Social Policy approved financing to strengthen the capacity of the government to combat money-laundering and terrorism financing. Feb 4, 2023 · However, PBS wrote that the Cali cartel did not inherit Escobar's public flair for violence, preferring to adopt a business façade in their international operation. Cartels have also hung banners on streets stating demands and warnings. Jan 24, 2024 · Juarez Cartel. undercover cops disregard the law to bring down the most powerful drug mob in the U. Categories: Drug cartels by country. [321] Aug 8, 2023 · 2 of 2 | . We’re talking about some real heavy hitters here. Rodriguez Gacha was also on the United States’ list of the dozen most-wanted Colombian drug traffickers. Sep 4, 2019 · Earning himself the title of “No. drug trafficking charges was sentenced on Tuesday to 45 years in prison by a judge in Brooklyn who called him "more At the height of the Cali Cartel's reign from 1993 to 1995, they were cited as having control of over 80% of the world's cocaine market and were said to be directly responsible for the growth of the cocaine market in Europe, controlling 80% of the market there as well. Trafficking humans. These guys were no joke. Since the 1970's, Colombia has been home to some of the most violent and sophisticated drug trafficking organizations in the world. Colombia is the largest producer of cocaine in the world, [86] and cocaine production in Colombia reached an all-time high in 2017. To fight the war, federal agent Matt Graver re-teams with the mercurial Alejandro. Happy bingeing! May 31, 2017 · The Medellin Cartel, an organized group of drug suppliers and smugglers based in the city of Medellin, Colombia, began operating during this time. Hidden category: Commons category link is on Wikidata. Kidnapping. 2 leader” of the same Medellin Cartel that Carlos Lehder helped establish, Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha was one of the most wanted men in Colombia while he was at large. This cartel is one of the few large and powerful enough to truly rival the Sinaloa Cartel. Escobar was the unchallenged head of the Medellin Cartel, a vertically integrated, hierarchical criminal enterprise that initially flew in coca base from Peru and Bolivia, processed it in Colombia’s jungles, then flew it to the mainland US in staggering quantities. While other cartels in Colombia filled the void, their power failed to match that of their predecessors. Sep 11, 2024 · Colombia - Drug Trafficking, Guerrilla Warfare, Conflict: The process of change brought with it new political, economic, and social problems, which stemmed from uneven development, unequal gains, and a growing perception that the benefits of higher income were not widely shared. These strikes – which have caused Countering the Financing of Terrorism: Colombia is a member of FATF, and its FIU, Colombia’s Financial Information and Analysis Unit, is a member of the Egmont Group. he U. It is also an old criminal organization, based in: Drug trafficking. The Medellín cartel in their peak was supplying an estimated 80-90% of the US cocaine market, turning over US$100 million in profits per day. With the collapse of the Cali and Medellin cartels, the cocaine business in Colombia began to disintegrate. The cartel was portrayed as the Avendanos brothers in Univision's Netflix series El Chapo. The cartels responded by bribing or murdering numerous public officials, politicians and others. Many leaders of the Cali cartel were arrested in the 1990s, and by the next decade the organization had largely disbanded. " Yet the Cali cartel was still a powerful drug cartel that The Cali Cartel (Spanish: Cartel de Cali) was a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca. government agencies broke up Caribbean networks used by Colombian cartels to smuggle The Cali cartel went so far as to help Colombian police and the U. and other foreign law enforcement agencies work with Colombian counterparts to obtain and ship large quantities of cocaine around the world as part of efforts to infiltrate trafficking gangs. In 1975, Colombian police seized 600 kilos of Apr 14, 2023 · Fentanyl trafficking, weapons, and money laundering charges were unsealed today in the Southern District of New York against 28 defendants, including three of the Chapitos; top lieutenants and leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel; alleged manufacturers and distributors of the Sinaloa Cartel’s fentanyl; the managers of the violent armed security Jan 20, 2021 · Today, Colombian drug cartels export 90 percent of the cocaine that enters the United States—around 1,040 metric tons of high-quality cocaine derived from coca leaves grown by more than 250 thousand peasant families on nearly 200 thousand hectares of land, nestled in the depths of our mountain ranges. Claudy, Co Derry, Ireland on December 06, 2018: Great article! David Trujillo Uribe (author) from Medellin, Colombia on Lessons learned from efforts to curb Colombian cocaine cartels are discussed with respect to international strategies, the investigation of organized criminal groups, the incarceration of cartel leaders, the political influence of cocaine cartels, and the use of technological advances by drug traffickers to evade detection and capture. Sep 26, 2023 · Washington — Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned 10 individuals, including several Sinaloa Cartel affiliates and fugitives, pursuant to Executive Order (E. ” In all, the list included “21 of 100 senators, 13 of 161 representatives and five of 27 departmental governors. Úsuga, 51, was sentenced to 45 years in prison in the U. Tongs and outlaw motorcycle gangs, as well as terrorist, militant, and paramilitary groups, are mentioned if they are involved in criminal activity for funding. Enjoy! Comments. Tour the country by being smart and see what other foreigners have to say. Cartel members have broadcast executions on YouTube [320] and on other video sharing platforms or shock sites. L. The Sinaloa Cartel (Spanish: Cártel de Sinaloa, CDS, after the native Sinaloa region), also known as the Guzmán-Zambada Organization, the Federation, the Blood Alliance, [4] [5] [6] or the Pacific Cartel, [7] is a large, international organized crime syndicate based in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico [8] that specializes in illegal drug trafficking and money laundering. Organized crime groups in Colombia. Loosely based on Mexico's once most powerful drug cartel leader, this journey into the drug underworld cuts to the bone and through the heart. Along with Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, Santacruz Londoño was a leader of the Cali Cartel. A chronicled look at the criminal exploits of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, as well as the many other drug kingpins who plagued the country through the years. Writing for the Los Angeles Times, William R. Oct 4, 2022 · Killing powerful drug traffickers, such as Pablo Escobar, and the demise of large cartels such as the Norte del Valle cartel, have not ended – or even affected – cocaine trafficking; in fact, the market has grown both in terms of routes and in the number of criminal groups that manage the business. S. Oct 23, 2021 · Colombian military forces captured the leader of a major drug cartel, considered by the government to be the most wanted man in the country, President Iván Duque announced on Saturday. What’s different this time around Feb 13, 2020 · Sure, the majority of movies and TV shows on this list are mostly fictional, but they are also based on and inspired by real-life cartels and the cycles of violence they’ve spawned. -Mexico border. ” -Freddy Bernal, a former mayor; Cliver Acalá Cordones, an Army General; and Ramon Madriz Moreno, a key intelligence officer, all met with FARC leaders and Colombian Trafficking Organizations involvement in wholesale drug trafficking operations within the United States declined over the 5 years upt 2010 and was unlikely to increase in the foreseeable Nov 22, 2022 · The government’s critics, such as former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, who presided over the greatest crop reduction in the country’s history through a controversial all-out military Aug 8, 2023 · Colombia to extradite "country's most dangerous drug lord" to the U. Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (/ ˈ ɛ s k ə b ɑːr /; Spanish: [ˈpaβlo eskoˈβaɾ]; 1 December 1949 – 2 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord, narcoterrorist, and politician who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. During that time, law enforcement agencies took important steps to ensure information sharing and efficient use of resources. Colombia, my friends, has quite the reputation when it comes to drug lords. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, shows Dairo Antonio Úsuga, one of the world’s most dangerous drug lords, and the elusive boss of a cartel and paramilitary group with a blood-drenched grip on much of northern Colombia. Creator Carlo Bernard Chris Brancato Doug Miro Stars Pedro Pascal Wagner Moura Boyd Holbrook A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin, or lord of drugs is a type of crime boss in charge of a drug trafficking network, organization, or enterprise. The Future of Colombian Cartels. government and from critical sectors of Colombian society who supported the extradition of suspected Colombian cartel members to the U. A. -Mexico border has escalated as the cartels have begun trafficking terrorists across the US border. Apr 3, 2023 · The initials represent Colombia’s most powerful drug trafficking organization, a force with control over a massive swath of the country and the most important routes for moving cocaine to the Jan 23, 2016 · Dario Antonio Úsuga, aka Otoniel — Los Urabeños (Colombia) Screenshot via state. government and presented to Colombian President Alfonso López Michelsen in July 1977 as a way of gaining leverage over Colombian drug policy is the focus of a new Electronic Briefing Book published today by the National Security Archive. [11] [better source needed] IWI ACE Israel: Assault rifle: Is the new standard-issue assault rifle of the Army, Navy (including Colombian Marine Corps), Air Force and Police of Colombia. [87] Active Colombian drug cartels: The Black Eagles; Clan del Golfo; Oficina de Envigado; National Liberation Army (Colombia) FARC dissidents; Los Rastrojos; Historical Colombian drug cartels: Medellín Cartel The following is a listing of enterprises, gangs, mafias, and criminal syndicates that are involved in organized crime. Not to mention, we include a guerilla-style documentary, Cartel Land, which drops you off at ground zero, the U. jattyulsasxvdzyevinoqrpauxxoyltdmvrzfpksrukenoyxnxs