127 countries face the challenge of drug trafficking

“To deliver a better world to our children we
will move forward firmly against crime”
General Rodolfo Palomino López
National Police Director General
NATIONAL POLICE
www.policia.gov.co
REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA
ISSN 2145-8367
Institutional information
Issue No. 21
May 2015
127facecountries
the challenge of
XXXII INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR DRUG CONTROL (IDEC)
drug trafficking
FOR FOUR DAYS, CARTAGENA DE INDIAS will host the top anti-drug authorities in the world,
among whom is the world director of dea and the executive director of the united nations office
on drugs and crime, in search for new strategies to counteract the global challenge of illicit
drugs, a market worth more than 320 billion dollars a year. the national police of colombia,
the great host. in the photo, the minister of defense, juan carlos pinzón, and the director of the
police, general rodolfo palomino lópez, in the midst of a coca plantation.
WHAT GABO WROTE AFTER VISITING INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR OF 977,361 ARRESTS AND 2,026
THE SECRET VALLEY OF POPPY
THE DEA IN COLOMBIA
EXTRADITED DRUG LORDS
WWW.POLICIA.GOV.CO
2
DRUG SUMMIT
MAY 2015
POLICÍA NACIONAL
UN, DEA
AGENDA AT XXXII INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR DRUG CONTROL (IDEC)
and delegates from 127 countries
FOR FOUR DAYS, CARTAGENA DE INDIAS WILL HOST THE WORLD’S TOP ANTI-DRUG AUTHORITIES IN PURSUIT
OF NEW STRATEGIES TO COUNTERACT THE DRUG-TRAFFICKING GLOBAL CHALLENGE.
W
ith a stroll along
the walled city and
a welcome reception at Baluarte
San Francisco Javier, a magic
place considered historic heritage
of Cartagena de Indias, whose
military architecture makes us go
back 385 years in time and introduces us in a bewitching story of
fights and battles, the XXXII International Conference for Drug
Control (IDEC) starts tomorrow.
This is the second time Colombia hosts the conference. In 1991,
under the presidence of César
Gaviria Trujillo, the IX version
of IDEC was held, in which the
task of drug fighting performed
by Colombia was reviewed within an international context.
For four days, delegates from
127 countries will make an assessment on the global fight
against illicit drugs and discuss
new strategies to face the challenges of this problem in light
of the constant transformation of
drug-trafficking.
This summit will officially begin on Tuesday, whose origins
date from 1983, when two world
anti-drug officials gathered in
Panama to protect the national
security of the states given the
exponential growth of this transnational crime.
First time in the morning, in
the Gran Salón Barahona at the
Convention Center, the National
Anthems of Colombia and the
United States will be heard, and
there will be a minute of silence
in honor to the fallen in the war
agaisnt drugs, by the symphonic
band of the National Police.
Afterwards will come the speeches by the President of Colombia,
Juan Manuel Santos Calderón,
and the Ambassador of the United States in Colombia, Mr. Kevin
Whitaker.
Then, the Director of National
Police, General Rodolfo Palomino López, will extend the
welcome to attendees and a few
hours later he will go deeper on
“The Evolution of Colombia Before the Threat of Drug-trafficking.”
The World Director of the United States’ Drug Enforcement
Administration DEA, Mr. Chuck
Rosenberg, will speak immediately after. Then the turn to
speak will be for the Colombian
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms.
María Ángela Holguín, who will
in turn present a heavy weight in
the fight against illicit drugs, Mr.
Yuri Fedotov, Executive Director
of the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime, who next year
will chair a special UN session
in New York, known as Ungass
2016.
Later on, the turn to speak will
be for Peace Commissioner Sergio Jaramillo Caro, who will talk
about the peace process in Colombia and the solution to the
problem of illicit drugs. Also,
researcher Ricardo Rocha García
will elaborate on “The New Dimensions of Drug-trafficking in
Colombia.”
The session on first day will be in
charge of Assistant Secretary for
the United States Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Mr. William
Brownfield, who will discuss the
“Global Fight Against Narcotics
in the XXI Century.”
On Wednesday, Colombia’s
Ministry of Justice, Yesid Reyes
Alvarado, will be in charge of
opening the day by referring to
the “Execution of Public Policy
Before the Fight Against Criminality.” His Defense counterpart,
Luis Carlos Villegas, will follow
with his speech on “Drug-trafficking and Defense and Security
Policy.”
Later on, Minister Counselor for
Post-conflict in Colombia, retired
General Óscar Adolfo Naranjo
Trujillo, former Director of the
National Police, will talk about
the “Fight Against Narcotics in
the Post-conflict.”
Immediately after, a video on the
20 Years of the Fall of the Cali
Cartel will be played and special
acknowledgement to key players
will follow.
The morning will close with the
presentation by the Commander
of the U.S. Southern Command,
General John F. Kelly, on “Maritime Interdiction Cooperation”,
and Colombian National Navy
Commander, Admiral Hernando
Wills Vélez, who will also elaborate on the topic.
At noon, the turn to speak will be
for the President of Social Works
Association (AOS) of the National Police, Ms. Eva de Palomino; the President of Fundación
Corazón Verde, Mr. Carlos Al-
ISSUE 21 - MAY 2015
berto Leyva Franco; the Director
of the DEA Educational Foundation, Mr. William Alden, and the
Chief of DEA Survivors Benefit
Fund, Mr. Richard Crock. They
will discuss about alliances between the private sector and the
institutions.
The afternoon will focus on developing the agenda for seven
regional work groups: Europe,
Africa, South and Centra Asia,
Far East, South America, The
Caribbean and Central and North
America.
The Thursday agenda will begin
with the presentations by Lieutenant Colonel Miguel Antonio
Tunjano Villarraga, expert researcher on illicit crops of Colombia’s National Police and
former Director of DEA Special
Testing & Research Lab, Jeffrey
Comparin.
Later on, the Director of the National Drug Control Policy, Mr.
Michael Botticelli, and psychiatrist Mark Gold will take the
floor. The latter will do a presentation on “Cocaine and the Science of Addiction.”
Afterwards, the National Police
will present the video “Activities
for the Prevention of Drug Consumption” to later continue with
the work groups.
Finally, in the afternoon, IDEC
XXXIV’s president will be elected and IDEC XXIII, which will
be held in Peru in 2016, will be
presented. Also, the Director of
DEA and Colombia’s Minister of
Defense will close down the conference.
EDITORIAL
MAY 2015
3
POLICÍA NACIONAL
Drugs, a
320-billion
dollar
business
Comprehensive policy
against narcotraffic
JUAN MANUEL SANTOS
I
President of the Republic
f there is an armed institution in the world that
may proudly credit itself
with the responsibility regarding the accomplishments
against the world problem of
illicit drugs, that should be the
Colombian National Police.
It is also true that neither our
Police, as an institution, nor
our country are able to combat
this transnational scourge, but
no one can deny that the great
effort to contain the problem
has greatly been made from our
side.
The great drug cartels, those
whose names stigmatized beautiful and prosperous cities and
regions in the country, such as
Medellín, Cali and the north of
the province of Valle del Cauca, have been dismantled and
are no longer a threat to the
survival of the Colombian State. Also, coca crops have been
reduced up to 60 percent in the
last decade.
The country has been relatively successful at this struggle
and we owe that to the heroism
of our people and our armed
forces. However, that relative
success has had a heavy toll
through the blood of many of
our best judges, soldiers, police
members and politicians.
And the problem, due to its international nature, does not disappear but rather transforms or
moves elsewhere.
On one hand, we are now facing
smaller and atomized organiza-
tions and the growth of microtraffic, which forces us to update and improve our strategy day
after day.
On the other hand, Colombia’s
success has made the spiral of
violence and corruption associated to the problem of illicit
drugs move to other countries
in the region, to which we currently lend advice based on the
experience we have gained in
such harsh fashion.
The truth is that the illicit drug
business continues to be profitable, drug-trafficking is still funded by violence and terrorism,
and drug addiction consolidates
as a public health problem.
What can we continue to do
from our country?
In the first place, and here there must not be doubt, we shall continue to combat directly,
with all the power of our Police
Force with the support of our
Military, against all criminal
organizations that make profit
out of drug-trafficking and their
illegal surroundings. In Colombia we have demonstrated that
we know how to do this effectively.
But war is not an isolated component. What happens to the
peasants that grow coca leaves
and who, more than repressive
policy, require social policy?
Where is the promotion of a
culture of legality that allows
us to overcome the “all-is-valid” approach, the cult of mafia
and violence? How about prevention? How about health programs for consumers?
A comprehensive policy must
also attack the liasons between
drugs and crime, and must prevent the entry of illicit money to
the country.
More than a war, the fight
against the world’s drug problem must be the sum of intelligent and well designed and
executed measures, that revolve
around people and that, of course, produce even better results
than those accomplished thus
far.
As we all know, the National
Narcotics Council, by sticking
to studies from the World Health
Organization (WHO) and national regulations, has recently decided to suspend aerial spraying
of illicit crops with glyphosate
due to the substance’s possible
impact on human health.
However, there are alternatives
that we will continue to apply,
and that a technical committee
will gather in concrete recommendations. Hand eradication
and voluntary substitution of
illegal crops are just a few.
And interdiction and confrontation efforts against criminal
groups dedicated to the business will continue, by destroying their labs, impounding
their shipments and capturing
and prosecuting their members.
Comprehensive fight against
the illicit drug problem implies
the work and determination of
all of us. Fortunately, we have
a National Police with broad
experience and commitment so
we will continue to be a worldwide positive agent to confront
this problem which destroys lives and corrupts societies.
WWW.POLICIA.GOV.CO
The destructive power of cocaine, marijuana, heroin and
synthetic drugs is still a major
threat to people nowadays. Last
year, about 315 million people
tried at least one of these substances, out of which 39 million
are addicted. The phenomenon,
which attacks mainly the youth, takes the life of 247 thousand consumers every 365 days.
And there are some drugs, such
as synthetic, which grow at an
unexpected pace: 251 different
types have been detected.
According to data from the
United Nations (UN), this burgeoning global problem leaves
traffickers astronomical annual
earnings. “Drug trafficking is
a multimillion dollar business,
which feeds criminal networks
to an extent we cannot understand well so far. Illicit drugs are
worth around 320,000 million
dollars a year, and this is a low
figure”, says UN Under-Secretary General, Jan Eliasson.
Only one kingpin, the Mexican
Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman,
who was captured last year,
amassed a fortune close to 1,000
billion dollars. “Illicit drugs undermine economic and social
development and foster crime,
instability, insecurity and the
spread of HIV”, warns the Interpol.
In turn, the executive director
of the UN Office against Drugs
and Crime, Russian Yuri Fedotov, presenter of the XXXII
Summit (IDEC), says that drugs
pose a major threat to the health
of people and the development
of many countries. “The overall magnitude of drug demand
has not substantially changed
worldwide”, which contrasts
with the objectives set in 2009
to eliminate or reduce it significantly until 2019.
The world produces about 800
tons of cocaine per year, which
are generated entirely in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. According
to the Interpol, drug trafficking
requires the participation of
farmers, producers, smugglers,
suppliers, distributors and consumers, and affects citizens
throughout the five continents.
dadanos de cinco continentes.
4
MAY 2015
DRUG SUMMIT
POLICÍA NACIONAL
Drug trafficking,
35 years of a
relentless struggle
THE NATIONAL POLICE AND ITS FIGHT ON DRUGS
FIRST THE BIG CARTELS FELL. THEN, THE RAISING DRUG BARONS, INCLUDED ‘DON MARIO’,
‘EL LOCO BARRERA’ AND ‘MARQUITOS’. CURRENTLY, THE TARGET IS ‘OTONIEL’ AND THE ‘CLAN ÚSUGA’.
I
n the 80s, when the phenomenon of cocaine began to turn
into a harsh global threat, the
National Police of Colombia
took a significant step on April
28, 1981, by creating, through resolution No. 2743, the Directorate of Anti-Narcotics (Diran), with
three specific strategies: prevention to drug usage and abuse, eradication of illicit coca and poppy
crops and interdiction.
The Diran, in association with the
Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Interpol (Dijin) and,
later, with the capabilities of the
Police Intelligence Division (Dipol), faced successfully the destibilizing power of the Medellín,
Cali, Norte del Valle, Llano, Caquetá, Bogotá and Costa cartels.
In this war the National Police
have captured 977,361 people
linked to drug trafficking, out of
which 2,026 have been extradited, and also have managed to
reduce illicit crops by 70 percent,
destroy 16,789 drug labs and seized over 1.2 million kilos of cocaine (see figures on page 20).
Without doubt, the blow that opened the way to end cartels took
place on December 2, 1993. On
that day, not only the world’s
most wanted drug trafficker fell
-star of one of the blackest pages
in the history of Colombia, which
killed about 5,000 compatriots-,
but the abatement of Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria meant a change in the equation by the National
Police in favor of the State when
it achieved a turning point in the
fight against drug trafficking.
The fall of the drug lord represented a new dawn for the country to
dismantle, one by one, the drug
cartels and their criminal operation that for over 35 years had
threatened the stability and legitimacy of the State as well as the
survival of Colombian society.
These mobsters believed that
with the streams of money, product of their criminal activities,
could buy consciences, threaten
and kill opponents and even ob-
tain political, economic and judiciary power to its highest extent.
With Escobar’s death the myth
of the indestructible man and the
once powerful Medellín Cartel
fell apart, and the Police of Colombia, which purged infiltration
from its ranks and refined itself
to historic levels, launched an
unprecedented offensive against
the mafia.
The whole experience of the
effective Search Squad in pursuit of Escobar and his landlords,
along with high strategic intelligence and a daily micromanagement, led to the dismantling
of the Cali Cartel, with the imprisonment of seven major mob
bosses and dozens of straw men,
as happened exactly 20 years ago
(see page 14).
With the dawn of the new century
and the two most powerful cartels torn down, the police charged
at mafia organizations in Llanos,
the Coast, the Pacific, Bogotá
and Caquetá. Drug bosses such
as ‘The Snail’, ‘Martelo’, Nelson
Urrego, Pastor Perafán, ‘El So-
ISSUE 21 - MAY 2015
cio’ and many others also ended
up in Colombian and US prisons.
It only remained a highly dangerous cartel: the Norte del Valle.
‘Don Diego’, ‘Rasguño’, ‘Jabon’,
the Urdinola Grajales and their
hired group of hitmen ‘Los Machos’ and ‘Los Rastrojos’ suffered the same fate of ‘The Mexican’, Carlos Ledher, Escobar and
the Rodríguez brothers.
Once with the cartels reduced
to nothing and the self-defense
forces demobilized, mafia strongholds saw an opportunity to take
over the drug business and therein a new battle against criminal
gangs (Bacrim) began, which at
certain point were conformed by
33 structures, out of which only
three currently survive. Today,
the priority is the ‘Clan Úsuga’
and its boss ‘Otoniel’. Even beyond the borders, the National
Police, in collaboration with foreign authorities, has ascertained
the whereabouts of 45 powerful
mobsters, including alias ‘Marquitos’, the terror of La Guajira.
In recent years the criminal power
Subdirectora Policía Nacional
EDITORIAL
MAY 2015
The curse of drug
T
5
POLICÍA NACIONAL
trafficking
o the whole world, and especially
to the delegates of the 127 countries that from tomorrow on will
participate in the XXXII International Drug Enforcement Conference
(IDEC) in Cartagena, I want to assure that
the fight on drugs has indeed been successful. Do not let anyone think otherwise.
So successful, that only 15 years ago Colombia was the most violent and insecure
country of the world and even was close
to being considered a failed state. It was
a country subdued to every expression of
violence and crime, where drug and terrorist cartels had a strong influence in all
spheres, and racked by the degradation of
its own society.
Damn drug trafficking! If we ever could
make a wish, just one wish for Colombia, it
would be to remove drug trafficking. Drug
trafficking has fueled violence, bloodshed, corruption, damage to the culture of
our society, motivation to easy money, the
refusal to work and honest effort. What a
huge curse the drug has been! What a large
number of deaths it has caused to Colombian people, how much sacrifice and what
great heroism of our National Police in the
struggle to defeat the big cartels.
It has been a sustained struggle over time,
in which the National Police has taken a
heavy burden, having to go even to the jungle to face all links in the drug trafficking
chain: from that cursed crop and its drug
labs, through to combat money laundering.
I want to pay tribute to those officers
who have lost their lives while risking
everything in hazardous spraying operations to help break the criminal drug trafficking chain. I pay tribute to those policemen who, along with soldiers, have had to
go to coca-growing areas, where they have
had their legs and other body parts blown
away with mines and booby traps planted
by the owners of such illicit crops, who are
criminals and terrorists, not interested in
putting a stop to this cursed business.
Despite the changes that time may bring,
despite having to quit the use of glyphosate and other tools, the country cannot
lower its guard in the fight against crime,
terrorism, violence and especially drug
trafficking. We will have to find new tools,
innovate, use our experience to continue
weakening this problem.
We cannot let our guard down for a second,
or allow drug trafficking and micro-trafficking spread among our children and
youngsters. It is time that in addition to the
noble and heroic work of our armed forces,
other agencies of the Nation and the State commit just as much and take the same
risks that our police officers and soldiers
take. I would like to see more commitment
from all institutions, for example, in the
prevention and education against drug use;
for example, in public health facilities, to
meet permanent consumers. This evil, no
doubt, requires comprehensive solutions.
I would like to see new rules and new legal alternatives to provide tools to our
police and justice institutions so that they
can deal more effectively the permanent
changes of the curse of drug trafficking. I
would like to see drug crops substitution
programs that are actually sustainable and
not simple alternatives for offenders to
cheat the State.
We will increase the eradication of illicit
crops. Let us be clear to drug traffickers:
we are going all in, with all our soul, with
all the intensity to make use of the tools
available to put an end to this problem.
of drug lords such as ‘El Loco Barrera’, ‘Don
Mario’ ‘Chupeta, ‘Cuchillo’, Ramón Quintero, and ‘Camisa Roja’, among others, has
disappeared. Effectiveness has reached such
levels that, in just the first five months this
year, the office of Interpol Colombia alone
has captured 22 extraditable individuals, including the boss of an international organization responsible for laundering more than 900
million dollars.
Today, although the phenomenon of drug trafficking remains a global reality that, of course, affects the country, the facts show that, in
the case of Colombia, the threat of this scourge to the security, viability and legitimacy
of the State and its institutions disappeared.
As an example, the famous Nápoles country
mansion and its iconic aircraft as a tribute to
the first large shipment of cocaine that Pablo
Escobar put through, today is a legal theme
park, led by the Government at the service of
society.
In the past, the criminal life of a drug lord
could be decades, today it is only a few months thanks to the knowledge authorities have
on the phenomenon and the constant monitoring of its chameleon-like ability to become
almost invisible, with a dual purpose: not to
confront the State and avoid police actions.
This reality indicates that it is not time for
triumphalism and that we must be attentive
to the different transformations and manifestations of this crime to avoid repeating mistakes. Summarizing, in the last 35 years of
struggle against drug trafficking, Colombian
police has contributed to fight drug trafficking
with a share of sacrifice in human lives unprecedented in the history of their peers in the
world, leaving as a result, since 1997, 1,785
policemen casualties and about 3,200 injured,
and with a trace of pain within all those Colombian families who gave their loved ones in
compliance with the constitutional responsibility to combat drug trafficking in all its forms.
JUAN CARLOS PINZÓN BUENO
Minister of Defense of Colombia
WWW.POLICIA.GOV.CO
6
DRUG SUMMIT
MAY 2015
POLICÍA NACIONAL
THERE ARE STILL 48,189 HECTARES TO BE DESTROYED
2.2 million hectares of coca crops eradicated
SINCE 1995 THESE ILLICIT CROPS HAVE BEEN REDUCED 70%.
POPPY WAS IMPORTED FROM AFGHANISTAN.
I
f Colombia, with the unconditional support of the United States and the United Nations, had not spearheaded aerial
spraying and hand eradication of illicit
crops, then drug traffickers would have turned our tropical forests into a sea of coca
crops.
Until the 70s, there were a few plots grown
with coca in the country and therefore traffickers had to bring the base from Peru and
Bolivia to process cocaine. But the drug
lords of the Medellín Cartel decided to acquire better quality seeds and were able to
grow more than 162 thousand hectares in the
90s.
In that time they even hired Afghan experts
to grow, in the area of Cañón de Las Hermosas, poppy crops whose latex is the raw
material to produce heroin (See box). Colombia, through its Anti-Narcotics Police,
launched the greatest attack against illicit
crops, especially in the areas with the most
concentration, such as the departments of
Guaviare, Caquetá, Putumayo and Nariño.
With eight regional commands, three fixed
and eight mobile spraying bases, 16 hand
eradication companies, three jungle commands, 73 choppers and 46 aircraft, the Police has been able to reduce coca crop areas to
a record number of 48,189 hectares.
The goal for next year is to reach 38,000
hectares and within the next three years,
stop this problem. To accomplish this feat
it was neccesary to spray and hand eradicate the equivalent of 2,283,582 hectares of
coca crops, as traffickers not only continued
to break the jungle to keep on growing but
also replanted between five and 10 times the
areas already intervened by authorities.
Out of this number, 1,873,270 hectares were
sprayed while 410,312 were hand eradicated.
In 2006, 172,025 hectares were sprayed, the
highest number in history, whereas in 2008
there was the highest figure regarding hand
eradication, with 95,621 hectares. In total,
5,884,877 tons of coca leaves were seized.
This heroic effort, which has allowed to reduce the metric production of cocaine in half
(about 300 tons per year), has been made
despite bad weather, coca-leaf growers marches, mined fields and armed harassment by
groups that offered to pay up to 250 million
pesos (about US$100,000) for every downed aircraft. In this fight, 135 police members have died and 438 have been wounded.
However, National Police is certain that soon
the last coca plant will have been eradicated
in Colombia.
ISSUE 21 - MAY 2015
AFGHAN POPPY
Colombia reached about 8.000 hectares of areas grown with poppy. Today,
there are only 313 hectares grown in
small plots, mainly in the provinces of
Nariño and Cauca. In the last 20 years
it has been mandatory to spray the equivalent of 51,402 hectares and hand
eradicate 6,964 more. This means that
due to the replanting phenomenon, it
was necessary to destroy 58,366 hectares of the so called ‘bloody flower’,
the key input for heroin. In this struggle, 74 labs have been destroyed and
9,058 kilos have been seized, with a
record figure of 732 kilos in 2007.
RESEARCH
7
MAY 2015
Trueno, the king of the
POLICÍA NACIONAL
counter-narcotic dogs
H
e is not human, but he is quite
a war hero. Trueno (in English,
Thunder) is a brown Labrador
specialized in locating mines
camouflaged in coca plantations, who fears
neither bullets nor the sound of attack choppers. He has saved whole counter-drug
squads 15 times.
With the guidance of police officer Edison
Ruiz, the noble animal, dressed in his fluorescent jacket, risks his life as any policeman or motherland’s soldier would. He advances stealthily while his owner and other
30 police officers armed to the teeth follow
him in a straight line. The rules are clear to
them: where the dog steps on, so does the
human, where the dog stops, everyone must
follow suit.
In Tumaco, where he located an explosive
and saved the uniformed personnel’s life, he
was about to die, yet it was not due to an
explosion but by a snake bite. “Once we detonated the mine, I noticed that Trueno was
not exactly the same. He stopped wagging
his tale, jumping and licking. He fainted
half-way through.
The patrol member, who considers his dog
as his own child, realized he’d been bitten
and, after injecting serum, took him off field
by helicopter and saved his life. “I know
that he loves me as a father. We sleep and
eat together. He senses my sadness and I
sense his.”
Such was the case of Mara, a female dog
that fell into depression, lost her appetite
and even cried the day her counter-narcotics partner, Sergeant Fredy Cañas, lost his
leg after a device exploded in a coca planted
area in Putumayo. Their reencounter in the
General Directorate of the Police resembled
that between two brothers that had survived
a tragedy.
Both Trueno and Mara are two of the 237
members of the Narcotics Dog Guidance
Grou, all of which have been trained in
the Dog Training Center (CAP) of the Anti-Drug Force of the National Police.
Some of them work in the jungle, such as
Beto, who went deaf due to a mine explosion, or Bruno, struggling with Leishmaniasis, the disease that affects the most Police
Force members. Others serve in harbors
such as Barranquilla, Cartagena, Buenaventura and Santa Marta, and others in airports
such as Cali, Barranquilla, Cartagena, Rionegro and Bogota. The mission is one:
fight drug trafficking.
Mafia has deforested 608,000 hectares of jungle
ABOUT 1,680 ANIMAL SPECIES, 10 RIVERS AND 254 INDIGENOUS PEOPLES TERRITORIES ARE
ENDANGERED. TRAFFICKERS USE PESTICIDES. ILLICIT CROPS HAVE IMPACTED GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE.
M
afia has caused irreparable
damage to the Colombian
environment, with some areas that would take between
100 and 400 years to recuperate.
Between 1998 and 2012, drug traffickers
deforested 608,000 hectares of tropical
forest to grow coca crops. That means
about 40,000 hectares per year, for a daily average of 110 hectares.
This criminal action against nature prevented the now gone forest to capture 6
million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) and
at the same time to produce 5.5 million
tons of oxygen.
Additionally, in just one year, in 2012,
the mafias used 550,000 and more than
280 kilos of ten different pesticides for
the production of coca leaves, many of
which have been banned in other coun-
tries and pose carcinogenic threats.
These are some of the greatest disclosures of the research “Coca: Deforestaion, Pollution and Poverty”, done by
the Anti-Narcotics Office of the National
Police, gathered in a 212-page book.
The work, that scientifically follows the
history of coca, also disclosures that
glyphosate is the most widely used liquid herbicide, with 45 percent, and that
contrary to common believe, most of it
is not used to eradicate drug plantations,
but also in commercial agriculture. Out
of the 9 million liters sold in one year,
89 percent of the substance was used in
legal crops.
It also points out that a wide variety of herbicides is used in Colombia. Out of the 350
importing companies registered at ICA, 32
of those sold 22 million kilos and 38 liters
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of pesticides in just one year.
The study says that about 1,680 animal
species are endangered: 210 mammals,
600 birds, 170 reptiles, 100 amphibians
and 600 fishes, as well as flora species,
unique in the world.
Ten rivers have also been suffering from
pollution: Vichada, Guaviare, Arauca, Apaporis, Inírida, Vaupés, Orteguaza, Caguán,
Caquetá and Putumayo. Coca has also put
at risk 254 indigenous territories and 19
natural parks, which are contamined by
3,379 hectares of illicit crops.
“It causes the destruction of between 380
and 420 tons of biomass per hectare, for
an accumulated deficit of 387 million tons
of biomass turned to ashes and sediment
which have originated changes to water
sources and contributed to global climate
change”, concludes the report.
8
DRUG SUMMIT
MAY 2015
POLICÍA NACIONAL
Heroes
fallen
Determined against
crime
Brigadier General
Jaime Ramírez Gómez
On November 17,
1986, hitmen from
the Medellín Cartel
murdered the director of Anti-Narcotics, an icon of the
war against Pablo
Escobar. The officer, 47, was the
one that chased the baron and his
gangsters the most. He destroyed
“Tranquilandia”, the largest cocaine complex in the history of
Colombia. He uncovered Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, ‘El Mexicano’, and warned Ministry of
Justice, Rodrigo Lara, about the
plans of the mafia to assassinate
him.
General RODOLFO PALOMINO LÓPEZ
F
General Director of National Police
uture generations will
not be able to ignore
at all the engagement, commitment
and courage with which police officers in the world have
faced the criminal phenomenon of drug trafficking. In Colombia it is impossible to pay
a deaf ear to the supreme sacrifice that the death of 1,785
police officers in the fight on
drugs has meant who, with determination and valor proper
of the fearless, gave their life
for protecting the lives of Colombians.
We will never fail to acknowledge the work and
teachings of our Brigadier
General Valdemar Franklin
Quintero, murdered by the
evil Medellín Cartel, as well
as the life of police patroller
Yeisson Mahecha Fierro, taken away by local drug mafias
in Bogotá, in the so called
‘Bronx Street’.
The memory of their lives
turns into the fuel for our
valor. Acknowledgement of
their vocation must stand
as irrefutable proof of the
compromise with the war on
drugs, mostly when the country has been honored with
being the host for the XXXII
International Conference for
Drug Control (IDEC). The
multinational
opportunity
seeks to study and analyze
global behaviors and trends
in relation to international
drug trafficking but it also
provides the challenge to discuss more effective alternatives and answers to combat
this transnational problem.
In the last 20 years in history,
Colombians have lived a sustainable improvement in the
quality of their standard of
living. Success is supported
by the self-sacrificing work
of thousands of police members who turn their service
into their best weapon. In
these two decades, Colombians’ National Police has
captured 977,361 criminals
related to drug trafficking.
Each one of these cases, as
you may imagine, represents
an ethics test for the uniformed, taking into account
that criminals always take
pressure as one of their most
detestable arguments. The
historic balance of arrests
reveals a police force that is
honest and committed to legality.
The country has extradited
2,026 drug lords, which evidence the close ties with other nations that fight against
drug trafficking; 16,789 labs
destroyed, 2,025 aircraft
grounded, 101.797 narcogoods on expired ownership
and more than 4,900 tons of
drugs seized and destroyed
show the persistence and perennial commitment of Colombian Police forces on its
fight against the illicit drug
business.
Such numbers are high-
lighted by the orienting and
teaching action which the institution develops through its
Education for the Resistance
to Drug Use and Abuse and
Violence (DARE). Thousands of Colombian children
and parents have happily
received the possibility of
training and certifying themselves in terms of prevention on drug consumption. In
fact, due to this initiative, the
National Police was awarded
with the prize Reina Sofía for
their fight against drugs. This
acknowledgement highlights
the importance that security
entities themselves from different nations get involved
into improving public health
conditions and deciding to
become persuasive agents
that promote conservation
and life.
This National Police will
keep on combatting criminality in all its forms. Those
who dare continue to poison
the youth around the world
by means of narcotics should
know that thousands of courageous women and men are
ready to bring them to justice, as we have done since
our institutional genesis.
To deliver a better world to
our children, we will advance
firmly against crime, valiant
against danger and will be
guardians of legality and the
peace of all Colombians.
God and Motherland.
ISSUE 21 - MAY 2015
Brigadier General
Valdemar Franklin Quintero
On August 18,
1989, the same day
presidential candidate Luis Carlos
Galán was killed,
the mafia murdered
the commander of
Antioquia Police, 48, with 150
gun shots. Escobar appointed
200 men to attack him. Once, believing it was the oficial convoy,
they activated a car bombthat ended up killing Governor Antonio
Roldán and his security escorts.
Since that day, the Colonel did
not want to be escorted to not put
his men’s lives at risk.
Major
José Luis Ramírez
In April 1995, US
Atlantic Ocean War
Navy Commander,
three-star General
Charles Wilmen,
arrived in Colombia to observe the
work of the new Major but, instead, he ended up carrying his
dead body. The officer, 41, had
been selected to do a demo on
the complexity of spraying illicit
crops. In Vegalarga (Huila), the
guerrillas, who offered 250 million pesos for every downed aircraft, hit the skillful pilot down.
EDITORIAL
MAY 2015
9
POLICÍA NACIONAL
A force of
6,633 heroes
Lieutenant Colonel
Jairo Alberto Castro Guarín
On Sunday October
19, 1997, narcoterrorism murdered,
in the jungles of
Guaviare, the commander of the East
Zone of the Anti-Narcotics Division of the National Police, aged only 34 years
old. During his brilliant 15 years
of service he also commanded
the departments of Bolivar, Cundinamarca, Atlántico and Arauca. He lost his life in the brightest
moment of his career, when his
youngest son was only 22 months old. We wholeheartedly accompany him always, as well as
his wife, María Isabel Espinoza.
Major
Carlos Andrés Buitrago
On September 3,
2013, this anti-narcotics officer, attached to a jungle
command, lost his
life during a bloody
battle of “Operation Border”, against “Clan
Úsuga” criminal gang. The tragic events occurred in a rural
area of Cúcuta. Our hero, who
for 11 years fought drug trafficking, was exalted as the best police officer in Colombia 2014 by
Fundación Corazón Verde. “My
dad was always a hero, he was
always my hero,” says his small
daughter.
Patrolman
Yeisson Mahecha Fierro
On Tuesday September 4, 2012,
micro-trafficking
gangs opened fire
against this brilliant uniformed,
aged 23, part of
the Narcotics Unit SIJIN, of the
Metropolitan Police of Bogotá.
They did so from the slums of
the so called “Bronx Street”, in
the heart of the capital. A month
before he had seized 152 kilos of
marijuana, which earned him a
new decoration. His murderer is
already in prison.
General Major RICARDO RESTREPO LONDOÑO
W
Director of Anti-Narcotics
ith love and
patriotic pride I can state
that Colombia
has the first line of defense
against the drug worldwide
production and distribution
through its National Police and in particular its Anti-Narcotics Division. On a
daily basis 6,633 heroes risk
their lives by land, sea and
air to rid humanity of this
scourge that overwhelmingly
affects the five continents
and helps to destabilize the
most precious individual and
collective values.
In each operation of eradication, fumigation or interdiction, our officers’ commitment and courage is
remarkably displayed. It is
not easy to get into the jungle to fight a crime, whose
perpetrators are dangerous
international illegal organizations that fill their saddlebags with money at the
expense of human pain and
suffering. It is not easy to see
one of our heroes maimed
as a result of mafia’s mines
camouflaged in the midst of
coca, poppy or marijuana
crops. It is not easy to get on
an aircraft sought to be downed by criminals lurking in
the jungle. It is not easy to
attend the funeral of one of
our colleagues who has died
doing his or her duty and
who left an orphaned family.
There are 584 officers, 2,222
non-commissioned officers,
2,736 patrols, 25 officers,
1,044 police assistants and
22 non-uniformed the members that conform the Directorate created 34 years ago.
They are men and women
of high professional, ethical
and moral training who fight
the cancer of drugs from six
different areas: Preventing
Illicit Crops, Special Operations, Prevention, Ports and
Airports and Police Aviation.
From eight bases strategically covering the entire country, 119 aircraft (73 helicopters and 46 aircraft) take off
with the mission of attacking
the various links that comprise the drug trafficking
production chain in order
to carry out an effective and
strong reduction of the illicit
drug supply.
On land, 16 Anti-Narcotic
companies and our Jungle
Commands destroy clandestine airstrips and drug labs,
reinforce operations to capture or neutralize high value
targets and provide security
to more than 1,700 hand era-
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dicators, supported by courageous canines, which also
contribute to track drugs,
explosives and currency and
to support search and rescue
operations. There are 234
dogs in the big anti-narcotics
family.
Apart from forcefully suppressing the production and
distribution of drugs, Anti-Narcotics develops plans
that allow the execution of
educational awareness programs and campaigns aimed
at the community, in order to
discourage the production,
distribution and sale of psychoactive substances, and
thus strengthen coexistence
and citizen security. Only
through the Dare program
we have been able to keep
away over 3 million children
from the world of drugs.
Furthermore,
‘Interactive
Buses’ and ‘Prevention Citadels’ have been designed
with the aim to promote the
proper use of technology and
creativity. Those are mobile
classrooms that allow children to learn through play
and instructional material
about the prevention message to drug use and violence.
Its implementation enabled
us to be the first police force in the world to receive
from the hands of the Queen
of Spain, the ‘Reina Sofía’
award against drugs.
10
DRUG SUMMIT
MAY 2015
POLICÍA NACIONAL
‘Most of the world
is in debt to the
Colombian Police’
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR OF DEA IN COLOMBIA
JAKE BERGMAN SAYS COLOMBIA HAS DONE MORE FOR TACKLING DRUG PRODUCTION AND
DRUG TRAFFICKING IN THE NAME OF THE WORLD THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY
≥
What kind of threat
does the drug trafficking phenomenon represent to mankind?
The impact is so diverse in
many different levels that defies a simple answer. Drug trafficking socially corrodes the
power of law, it creates an artificially inflated economy that
places honest hard working individuals at a clear disadvantage, it provides huge criminal
and terrorist organizations with
illicit income that feed violence, urban gangs and street crime. The growth and production
of drugs often destroy the natural environment and pollutes
water sources. And then there is
the personal cost. Severe drug
addiction deprives someone of
the promise of a healthy and
prosperous future. And that
trouble is not isolated to the addict, since it extends in a very
cruel and severe way to parents,
siblings, friends, co-workers,
and heartbreakingly, the most
vulnerable, to children with seriously addicted parents. And
then again there are different
levels in our society, costs of
social services, medical costs
and costs of criminal justice to
address the problem of addiction that are just ridiculously
high.
What is your reply to those
who claim that the war on
drugs is utterly lost?
In such cases I just point at Colombia, where the application
of every conceivable national
security law has been a success
story. The last time the IDEC
was held here was in 1991. Pablo Escobar, from the Medellín
Cartel and the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers, from the Cali
Cartel, ran their drug empires
from Colombia to major metropolitan cities in the United States and Europe. Today, no Colombian cartels remain in force
and there haven’t been since the
collapse of the Norte del Valle
Cartel in 2009. How relieving
it is we are here today and can
honor the sacrifices and achievements reached by Colombia.
What is needed by the international community to be
more effective in the fight
against drugs?
The bottom line is and has been
the spirit of international cooperation. I state that effectiveness
totally depends on cooperation
more than any other tangible
resource. That spirit of cooperation in the fight against drug
trafficking is the very essence of
the United Nations Convention
on Narcotic Drugs. The modern
model of international cooperation is, admittedly, the Government of Colombia, the Ministry
of Defense, the National Police
of Colombia and the General
Prosecutor’s Office. The National Police has set a standard
of excellence and achievement
towards international cooperation on a whole range of issues. This includes the exchange of police intelligence and
evidence; training through the
deployment of National Police
instructors to other countries
or the training by invitation to
the police by other countries to
participate in the training centers and training sessions at the
headquarters of the National
Police, and courses here in Colombia. Just to mention some
examples, there is the course
of Diran International Training
Jungle, the Aviation Mechanics
Formation, Aravi, and Training
of Cadets at the Escuela General Santander. Liaison officers
from the National Police of
Colombia who are permanently
appointed to the embassies of
ISSUE 21 - MAY 2015
Colombia worldwide and police organizations such as Interpol and the Epic. The National
Police have also taken leading
roles in police multilateral police forums, obviously, like the
Idec, but also in the Iacp, Interpol, Europol, Clacip, the UN,
and of course Ameripol, which
General Oscar Adolfo Naranjo
Trujillo created during his term
as General Director.
What are the objectives of the
XXXII International Drug
Enforcement Conference?
First, let me say, and this is my
personal and professional opinion, the Government of Colombia has made more in the fight against drug production and
drug trafficking on behalf of the
world than any other country
I can think of, and it is a well
deserved tribute that the IDEC
XXXII is being hosted by the
National Police of Colombia
this year. There are many objectives in each IDEC. To cite
a few, IDEC provides a forum
for the exchange and sharing
of the latest trends in the field
of drug trafficking. This year,
since the National Police of
Colombia is the host of IDEC,
it will provide a forum for the
Colombian political leadership
EDITORIAL
MAY 2015
11
POLICÍA NACIONAL
Response to illicit drugs must
be based on global effort
In 2011, the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime (Unodc) presented a
study on illicit finacial flows, through
which it was possible to estimate that the
world market value of illicit drugs was 320
billion dollars. This huge sum was achived
through the despair and suffering of millions of people around the world, and it is
used to nurture corruption, terrorism and
other deadly crimes.
Given the large amounts involved, solutions that are global, measurable, proportionate and based on fundamental human
rights are needed. Fortunately, the world is
actively participating in a process that may
help MemberStates to establish a common
response to this global threat.
The UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (Ungass) on the global drug
problem will be in April next year. Ungass
and the preparation project will be a key
opportunity to strengthen international
cooperation and promote correct implementation of the Political Declaration and
Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an Integrated and Balanced
Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem of 2009. Unodc is fully committed
to supporting Member States through this
process.
There are two fundamental principles that
contribute to this process. In the first place, the shared responsibility of all countries to face global challenges derived
YURY FEDOTOV
Director Ejecutivo UNODC
from the illicit drug trafficking. Secondly,
the need to have a well balanced focus that
confronts offer and demand, including alternate life means. This focus is based on
the evidence and health for the prevention
and treatment of HIV, adequate response
by prosecuting justice and fight against
crime networks.
Unodc’s general focus on this unique challenge is triple: the building of a political
commitment among Member States at the
highest level possible; the delivery of our
activities through worlwide comprehensi-
would like to present for your
consideration is that the illegality of drugs dissuades tens of
millions of people from casual
drug use, as well as the potential for drug abuse and serious
drug dependence. The fact that
drugs are illegal has helped any
more lives than it has hurt. And
that’s the difficulty of the argument: that it is hard to prove
a negative fact, so we are not
actually able to estimate how
many lives have been saved.
So for those who say that prohibitionist policies cause more
harm than good, I will quote
the Unodc report 2008, which
stated: “If the prevalence of
opiate consumption had been
like in the early 20th century,
the world would face some
90 million opiate users, rather
Several countries have made than the 17 million it must care
progress in the decrimina- for today.”
lization of drug use. Do you
think one way to deal with Extradition has been an exthis scourge should be legali- traordinary tool for judicial
cooperation between Colomzation?
I am a high-level officer of bia and the United States to
the anti-narcotics law, a poli- face the intimidating power
ce officer, so I’m going to step of drug traffickers. Once the
aside this political question big bosses have been taken
that is beyond the scope of my down, could we think of grajob to comment on it. What I dual disassemble so that Coand the delegates of the oldest
member countries to discuss
best practices and lessons learned and observations on drug
policy based in the “experience
of Colombia” over a hundred
attending countries around the
world. Apart from these academic aspects, IDEC is unique because it is also a police
operation conference. Member
countries and observers decide
over bilateral and multilateral
anti-narcotic operations and
agree and set a list of international target drug lords. More
than 100 countries decide to
head against drug trafficking
networks. There is no other
forum to tackle this vital role in
law enforcement nor has such
concrete and tangible goal.
ve regional programs and the work in close colaboration with our partners, both inside and outside the UN, to grant that our
efforts revolve around the support to field
activities.
Member States have also been assisted
by Unodc in a wholesome fashion through interconnceted countries by means of
regional and global programs. Unodc has
established a search of Networks of Prosecutors and Central Authorities from countries of origin, transit and destination in
response to organized transnational crime.
These networks make it easier for requests
on reciprocal judicial assistance and address practical matters about international
cooperation, both formally and informally.
The networks are present in Latin America, West Africa, Central Asia and South
Caucasus. There are others planned for the
future.
As we move forward on the path to Ungass 2016 and beyond, it is necessary that
countries focus on the development of a
far-reaching global Alliance against illicit
drugs. While doing it, we must not forget
tht the Internationl Drug Conventions were
substituted to protect the health and welfare of human kind. This means ensuring
that people and their rights be fundamental
as we continue to work to block the offer
of illicit drugs and also offer treatment and
prevention for those who face the impact
of drugs in their everyday life.
lombian authorities may judge new traffickers?
I will use your question and turn
it into the answer: yes, extradition is the most extraordinary
tool for the application of the
law available to truly dismantle
and behead a criminal empire.
But I will add a word missing
in the question: extradition is a
great tool for implementing bilateral law. Each extradition is
based on a bilateral consensus
and mutual agreement. In the
course of bilateral DEA investigation along with the National Police of Colombia, only
10% of the defendants arrested
in the course of these joined
investigations are requested
in extradition. The remaining
90% is appointed, convicted
and imprisoned in Colombia.
At first glance it seems to be
the right balance.
What stands out in the war
on drugs in Colombia?
No other country in the world
has suffered more from the
drug trafficking, drug cartels
and drug terrorists as Colombia; no other country has sacrificed more of its national
treasure, blood and finance, to
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restore social order. And no
other country has accomplished and achieved more than
Colombia.
How do you rate the role of
the National Police of Colombia to address this phenomenon?
While all police forces in the
world have a fundamental responsibility to ensure public safety, few police forces are also
responsible for the vital role of
the national security of their
country. Even fewer police forces have assumed an important
international role in their mandate. The National Police of
Colombia is one of those few
forces. The National Police of
Colombia has been tested in
combat, battle tested and battle
hardened. When I think of the
widows and orphans of officers
of the National Police of Colombia fallen and when I think
of those officers who have been
seriously injured, I humbly acknowledge that the citizens of
Colombia, the United States,
and much of the world have a
deep debt of gratitude that can
never be paid in full to the National Police of Colombia.
12
DRUG SUMMIT
MAY 2015
POLICÍA NACIONAL
EL CRECIENTE TRÁFICO DE COCAÍNA LÍQUIDA
From heroin in the scalp
to cocaine breast implants
T
INSIDE FAKE BROOMSTICKS, SUNTAN LOTIONS, PALM OIL, LOTIONS AND EVEN IN THE
STOMACH OF ANIMALS DRUGS ARE SMUGGLED. NUNS, BUSINESSMEN AND STUDENTS:
THE MAIN TARGETS.
he criminal ingenuity of the mafia
seems to have no limit or respect
for human dignity when it comes
to drug trafficking. The latest findings of the National Police have allowed to
detect that smugglers are concealing heroin in the scalp and liquid cocaine in breast
implants.
A man tried to leave Colombia carrying attached to the base of his hair 80 grams of
high purity heroin. He had shaved and hid
the drug under a new mane.
To date, there have been three women arrested with breast implants filled with diluted cocaine, a new way drug traffickers
are disguising the alkaloid to hinder the
identification of the drug, since in solid
condition and due to its white color is easier to detect.
The most recent case was that of a Colombian female citizen ready to travel to the
United States, with connection in Panama
and Cuba, who had camouflaged in her
breasts the equivalent of 480 grams.
At the airport José María Córdoba in Rionegro (Antioquia), the National Police
arrested a 28-year old Panamanian woman who had within her prosthetics 1,248
grams of this drug. She said she had been
operated in Pereira. And in Madrid (Spain),
authorities arrested a Venezuelan female,
aged 43, coming from Bogotá, who used
the same technique to hide 1,700 grams of
cocaine.
Apart from these two practices there are
two more that are difficult to detect. The
National Police have discovered drugs
among fruit pulp, shampoo, suntan lotions,
conditioners, creams, lotions, wines, oils
and even animals.
In the stomach of a five-month old Labrador, the National Police found 1,800 grams
of the alkaloid. In turn, within a disable’s
prosthetics were found over 2 kilos, and 80
more kilos stuck to mineral coal. Another
method is to fill with narcotics PVC pipes
and then wrap them in wood so that they
look like broomsticks.
In Barranquilla the Police seized 76 kilos of
cocaine diluted in palm oil or palm kernel
oil, which the mafia was attempting to take
out of the country, using a front company,
aimed to the Port of Antwerp (Belgium).
The cargo was valued in 4,000 million pesos. Under the same scheme, police seized
other 500 kilos in Santa Marta, which were
on the way to Belgium, worth 30,000 million pesos.
ISSUE 21 - MAY 2015
In the port of Cartagena, in a cargo that
contained onion palm jars 1,800 grams
of cocaine in route to Spain were camouflaged.
Traffickers are also using the cocaine diluted method to load the so-called ‘mules’ or
couriers. This one is easier to swallow than
the solid version and even the image of the
scanner shows the packets as gases in the
stomach.
They also have been changing their profiles. They are now using from executives,
nuns, foreigners with many seals in their
passport, to young exchange students.
For that purpose a myriad of routes are
used because these organizations use connections in uncontrolled countries, with
final destinations considered critical, tapping routes that provide both air and sea
terminals.
Air routes most commonly used are those
that lead to European destinations, especially from Colombia with intermediate
connections (Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Dominican Republic, Haiti, El Salvador and Nicaragua),
and critical final destinations such as Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany and Switzerland.
DARE
MAY 2015
13
POLICÍA NACIONAL
THE ONLY POLICE FORCE IN THE WORLD TO WIN ‘REINA SOFIA’ PRIZE
The lion that has kept
away 3 million children
from the clutches of drugs
THE ANTI-NARCOTICS DIRECTORATE, THROUGH THE EDUCATION FOR RESISTANCE
TO DRUG USE AND ABUSE AND VIOLENCE PROGRAM (DARE), PREPARES STUDENTS,
TEACHERS AND PARENTS.
F
or more than 18 years, a lion who
wanders around throughout the
country and whom the National
Police of Colombia decided not to
capture has become one of the most beloved pets of Colombian children. The great
feline has already got away from the scourge of drugs over 3 million students.
To accomplish its mission, it has the support of 1,600 police instructors led by major Diana Torres Castellanos, a pilot with a
4,000-hour flight experience in operations
of coca crop location, and who also leads
the most successful prevention program for
drug use: Education for Resistance to Drug
Use and Abuse and Violence, Dare, whose
symbol is a lion.
The initiative, created in the United States
in 1983 and which is currently running in
43 countries in five continents, has been
taught in Colombia since 1997 through the
Anti-Narcotics Division. Since 2005, the
General Directorate has ordered to run it in
regions, metropolitan areas and commands
in provinces nationwide.
It is regarded as a key prevention strategy to
address, from educational institutions, the
problem of the use and abuse of psychoactive substances, with a proven effectiveness of 85.79 percent in Bogotá, and 92.7
percent in other eight cities, according to a
research conducted by Universidad Santo
Tomás, through its Faculty of Psychology.
DARE instructors are members of the
National Police, who have received specific training in the DARE International
Foundation to develop the program, which
consists of 10 lessons of 45 minutes each,
supported by corresponding teaching and
audiovisual material, carried out twice a
week for five weeks whose purpose is, in
a special ceremony, to provide alumni with
a certificate in recognition of their participation.
In the case of Bogotá, the program has
instructors in all zones: Usaquén, Suba,
Chapinero, Barrios Unidos, Engativá, Fontibón, Santa Fe, Candelaria, Teusaquillo,
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Mártirs, Puente Aranda, Kennedy, Bosa,
Tunjuelito, Rafael Uribe, Antonio Nariño,
San Cristóbal, Usme and Ciudad Bolívar.
One of the most moving graduations took
place last April at the venue of Palacio de
los Deportes where Defense Minister Juan
Carlos Pinzón, and the director of the Police, General Rodolfo Palomino, graduated
6,500 students. They had done the same in
the Plaza Bolivar with other 5,000 underage students.
The achievements of this program have
been so highlighted in Colombia that last
year it was awarded the Reina Sofia Award
Against Drugs in Spain. It is the first time
that such distinction is awarded to a police
institution in the world.
The program has reached every corner of
the country. It has even crossed borders.
Today in Colombia, instructors from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica,
Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti, Panama and Dominican Republic are trained.
And the lion is still on the loose.
14
MAY 2015
DRUG SUMMIT
POLICÍA NACIONAL
WHAT WAS THE FATE OF THE SEVEN GREAT BARONS?
How the Cali Cartel fell
20 years ago
NATIONAL POLICE TRIBUTE TO ALL INSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS WHO, THROUGH THEIR UNTIRING
WORK, MANAGED TO CHECKMATE THE MOST COMPLEX AND DANGEROUS MAFIA ORGANIZATION
OF THE 90S. UNTOLD STORIES.
A
fter neutralizing the
most dangerous mafia
boss of all time, Pablo
Escobar Gaviria, and
dismantle the Medellín Cartel
and its insane drug trafficking
power that spread terror and
hopelessness in Colombia, the
National Police knew that the
institution would have to face an
equal or greater challenge: the
untouchable Cali Cartel.
“It was a very sophisticated cartel. They believed that the fact
of not using violence made them
look like good people, but what
they did was corrupt”, Serrano
recalls. “It was not just a criminal threat, but a threat to institutional stability, and a great corrupter and destroyer of values”,
points out retired General Óscar
Naranjo Trujillo, former director
of the Police.
“It was a criminal organization
that, systemically, overflowed
the capacity of the State and
forced the design and construction of a Police Force with exponential strengths in favor of
Colombian people. Its intelligence service contributed, along
with international alliances, to
neutralize this global threat”,
emphasizes General Jorge Luis
Vargas Valencia, current director
of Intelligence and key man in
the fall of the Cartel.
One cartel. Seven first-line drug
lords. 3,000 connections worldwide. Links with Mexican, Sicilian, Nigerian, Russian, Italian
and American mafias. Immeasurable corrupting power. Control
of 80 percent of the world’s cocaine.
The response of the National
Police of Colombia: unprecedented institutional shakedown,
strengthening of intelligence,
international cooperation, juicy
rewards, creation of the Search
Squad, over a thousand raids...
all of this under the command
of General Rosso José Serrano
Cadena, the great hunter of drug
lords. “With great pain, we had
to revoke more than 8,000 policemen.”
Once the house was in order, the
battle began. “The aim was to
get drug traffickers out of their
hideouts and not allow them to
continue to enjoy their illicit
wealth”, says retired General
Luis Enrique Montenegro Rinco,
former Assistant Director of the
Police, who also played a major
role in the collapse of the cartel.
The night of March 2, 1995, the
unthinkable happened. The police achieved the first catch. At the
exit of a brothel in Cali, where
a witch and her crystal ball had
warned him that the police were
close, Jorge Eliécer Rodríguez
Orejuela, also known as ‘Cañengo’, was captured by a police
command. “He introduced himself as a lamps seller with a false
identity card. His capture filled
us with optimism to show the
country that the Cali cartel was
not untouchable”, recalls Montenegro.
The drug dealer paid his sentence and then died in 2013 in extreme poverty. It was time to go after the seven big bosses: Gilberto
and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela,
José Santacruz Londoño, Helmer
Herrera, Víctor Patiño Fómeque,
Phanor Arizabaleta Arzayuz y
Henry Loaiza.
At 1 in the afternoon of June
9, 1995, without firing a single
shot, the National Police gave
checkmate to ‘The Chess Player’, number one of the cartel,
Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, a
ISSUE 21 - MAY 2015
former drugstore messenger who
eventually came to run a chain of
pharmacies estimated in 25 million dollars. He fell in Cali, hidden in a cove, crouched behind
a closet. He gave in with no resistance, even though he carried
three guns. After serving sentence in Colombia and relapse into
drug trafficking, he was extradited to the United States, where
he is currently serving a 30-year
sentence. “It was a historic press
conference, covered by more
than 150 journalists from around
the world”, says journalist Carlos Perdomo, press officer of General Serrano and key man at the
comprehensive management of
institutional information.
DRUG TRAFFICKING
MAY 2015
15
POLICÍA NACIONAL
Amid the general bewilderment
of the mafia and the unprecedented exodus, 10 days after the
capture of the ‘Chess Player’, on
June 19, the sixth man of the Cali
cartel, Henry Loaiza Ceballos,
known as ‘The Scorpion’, became the first boss to submit to
justice. “In one of his mansions
we found that all the taps were
made out of gold”, recalls retired
General Jorge Enrique Linares,
former Director of Operations of
the Police.
Today, ‘The Scorpion’ remains
in prison and faces two sentences, 20 and 30 years each, included the massacre of 43 peasants
in Trujillo, province of Valle, in
1990. On those events the local
priest was dismembered. The
priest, in his Sunday sermon, recommended not replacing coffee
crops for coca crops.
Then, on June 24, the fifth cartel
kingpin, Victor Patiño Fómeque,
also known as ‘The Chemist’,
did not resist the persecution any
longer and followed the example
of ‘The Scorpion’. “This criminal lost 36 relatives in the war
over the control for drug trade”,
says General Jorge Hernando
Nieto, director of Public Safety
and key officer in the capture of
several mafia bosses.
‘The Chemist’ served six years
in prison, relapsed into drug trafficking and then was extradited
to the United States, where he
became a collaborator of Justice.
War continued, and on July 4,
1995, the National Police of Colombia captured the third kingpin: José Santacruz Londoño.
At 7:30 p.m., three young intelligence officers blending in as
customers in a prestigious restaurant in northern Bogotá captured him as he ordered his favorite dish: steak. He was also
identified for not wearing socks
due to his psoriasis. “He had
cardiac issues, suffered from arterial hypertension and terminal
cancer. He did not have another
year of life, that is why he escaped from jail”, recounts General
Carlos Ramiro Mena, current
General Inspector and key offi-
WWW.POLICIA.GOV.CO
cer in the end of the cartel.
The former car thief and brain
behind the taking of the drug
market in New York, dressed as
a woman to escape from La Picota prison in Bogotá on January
11, 1996. Thirty-four days later
he was killed in Medellín.
Three days after the capture of
Santacruz the dismantlement of
Cali Cartel continued. On July
7, 1995, the sixth main drug lord
in line, Phanor Arizabaleta Arzayús, could not cope with the
prosecution and turned himself
in.
On August 6, 1995, the Cartel
took another deadly blow. At 1
a.m., the candle that Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela had lit to the
16
DRUG SUMMIT
MAY 2015
POLICÍA NACIONAL
Virgin to avoid being captured
gave him away in an exclusive
building in Cali. ‘The Lord’, the
second in command of the Cali
cartel, had escaped from another
building 21 days before, after remaining hidden in a sophisticated
cove that only could be opened
with the tip of a pin. Today, he is
imprisoned in a federal prison in
the United States, serving a 30year sentence.
There was only one kingpin remaining: Helmer ‘Pacho’ Herrera, fourth in command of the criminal organization, also known
as the ‘Man of the thousand faces’, of whom there was only one
photo, taken when he issued his
ID years before. While progressing in pursuit, the Anti-Narcotics Police continued to strike
drug production.
“I remember that drug traffickers
offered between 200 and 250 million pesos to shoot down police
aircrafts and helicopters”, remarks retired General Leonardo Gallego Castrillón, former director
of Anti-Narcotics.
Finally, on September 2, 1996,
with the capture of Herrera, the
Cali Cartel came to an end. He
was killed in prison, in a mafia
war that left more than 1,800
dead.
Having fallen the kingpins of the
cartel, the battle against drug trafficking continued. Other mafia
leaders such as ‘Rasguño’, ‘Don
Diego’, ‘Chupeta’, ‘Los Mellizos’, ‘El Loco Barrera’, ‘Cuchillo’, ‘Don Mario’ and ‘Marquitos’ were arrested.
“The capture of ‘Marquitos’ in
Brazil showed once again that
there is no safe hideout for drug
traffickers, even beyond borders.
With the fall of this criminal criminal we have already located
45 drug lords abroad. This hard
work has allowed removing the
fuel from war, such as mafia money, lay the ground to silence the
guns and dream of a country at
peace; a peace that the National
Police of Colombia shall guarantee”, says General Rodolfo
Palomino López, director of the
Police.
“In these 20 years of police intelligence involved in the fight
against drugs, our policemen,
results, achievements, capabilities, doctrine and the impact of
what has been done have helped
to spread seeds of peace, hoping
that future generations will live
in it”, adds General Vargas.
“Defeating the biggest drug cartels proved that in Colombia there is no place for power by force
of arms. Everything that has been
done against drug trafficking will
make sense, has a reason to be,
and transcends in history if we as
Colombian citizens close this cycle of violence and finally reach
peace”, concludes General Naranjo.
WHEN BOGOTA WAS CALLED 9-37
secret
codes
used by the Cali Cartel
The 361
S
o far, a table of 361 secret codes invented by
the Cali Cartel in order to
protect themselves from
the National Police’s Search
Squad operation and their arch
enemies of the Medellín Cartel,
had been hidden.
The security table, which consisted of numbers and letters,
allowed the gang leaders to
communicate directly with landowners in order to hide their
movements, and warn each other
about raids. These are some of
the most important:
To contact Cali Cartel’s second
man in command - Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Orejuela - also
known as ‘El Señor’, they used
the codes 1-04 (indicating his
nickname ‘Miguelito’) or JR-35,
for his full name (Miguel).
If they were referring to the Ro-
dríguez brothers’ last name, they
would always use the codes J-07, H-14, H-18. Alternatively,
the code Y-02 was used for their
mother’s maiden name Orejuela.
In order to talk about members
the counter intelligence sector
of the Public Forces, for example the ‘B-2’, F-2’ and the DAS
(Departamento Administrativo
de Seguridad), they would use
the code 3-26. To refer to the
army they used the code 3-27. If
it was regarding the police, they
would use the code 3-28. To talk
about a light aircraft the code
was always 3-64. To warn about
any coming raids planned by the
Police, they used the code 3-70.
To indicate that they needed to
move to another hide out due to
the presence of the Public Forces, they used the code 3-54.
When the bosses and other gang
ISSUE 21 - MAY 2015
members were ready to make a
move to a new location, the code
3-21 was used to signal that the
road was clear, and it was safe
for them to do so.
They referred to the Public Force check points with the code
3-15.
In order to refer to the actual
numbers, and dictate other figures, telephone numbers and addresses, they paired them with
animals, fruits and others basic
words: 1 - eagle, 2 - delta, 3 cheese, 4 - fox, 5- blackberry,
6- alpha, 7- bowsaw, 8 - echo, 9
- cat and 0 - India.
They also employed codes for
different regions and cities. For
example, they identified Bogota
with code 9-37; Cali, 9-34; Buenaventura, 9-35, and Medellín,
9-28, among others.
DRUG TRAFFICKING
MAY 2015
17
POLICÍA NACIONAL
THE CARTEL MONITORED RADARS FROM FIVE COUNTRIES.
The manual of the
mafia pilots
THE CALI CARTEL HAD A WHOLE SET OF RULES TO TRAFFIC DRUGS. THEY USED 21 TRAFFICKING
ROUTES THROUGHOUT MEXICO, HONDURAS, COSTA RICA, AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
T
he Cali Cartel, which
monopolized the cocaine trade in the
United States after
members broke away from the
Medellín Cartel, created a secret manual to guarantee the
success of their illegal flights.
It was elaborated by the heads
of the empire, who had vast experience trafficking narcotics
from Colombia, through central
America and the Caribbean Islands into the United States.
The manual contained all accurate information about the
organization’s illegal trafficking airstrips, and airports and
official radars, as well as every
condition pre-established to carry out this type of flight. Moreover, the manual contained
the names of officers of the Public Forces who needed to be
‘taken care of’.
It had a chapter dedicated to ‘the
characteristics of drug-smuggling aircraft’.
Amongst other things, it stated
that the aeroplane license plate should not be painted with
Polyurethane, because it was
very difficult to remove. Instead, it suggested that the licence plates should be small and
spray painted on with stencils,
in varnish or enamel, which
could easily be removed with
paint thinner.
AIRSTRIPS
AND AIRPORTS
HOW THEY
EVADED RADARS
The manual stated that, in order
to avoid being seen by a radar,
the pilot had to steer the course
of his trajectory within 300 miles of the detection zone, but if
he came across a significant route within this mileage, he should
descend below 1,000 feet.
Amongst the radars monitored
by the drug traffickers, which
the pilots had to avoid were:
Colombia - Radars in Leticia,
Carimagua, Tres Esquinas,
Juanchaco, Bogotá, La Guajira,
Barranquilla and San Andrés.
Panama – A radar located in
Howard and countless Awac
and Orion aeroplanes, used for
air interdiction and located in
American army bases in the
country.
In Costa Rica - In Cocos Island.
In Cuba - In Guantanamo.
In Mexico - In Tapachula, as
well as various mobile radars
and Awac and Orion aeroplanes
which controlled air space.
aeroplanes which controlled air
space.
In order to evade the interception of Awac and Orion aeroplanes, pilots had to fly at low altitudes, as they were flying over
the ground or at around 500
feet, when they were flying over
the sea. Another option was to
fly at higher altitudes than those of Awac and Orion aircraft.
It was also recommended that
they switch off all navigation
and communication systems,
when they were flying at low
altitudes.
The pilots had access to 21 trafficking-routes and airports in Mexico, Honduras, The Dominican
Republic and Costa Rica, where
they could deliver cocaine shipments. Mexico was the cornerstone of aerial drug trafficking.
There, the Cali Cartel operated
19 drug trafficking routes and airports.
OTHER INSTRUCTIONS
• The dropping of shipments should be carried out in the
Super King Air 200, 300 and 350 aircraft. This operation
damages every aeroplane slightly due to the contact of
the package when dropped from the flying craft.
• They instructed pilots so that whenever they could not
evade radars or interdiction aircraft they had to choose a
place to land and set both the aircraft and the drugs on
fire to destroy all evidence.
• Flights to Mexico took off from Nariño, Cauca or Valle
and aeroplanes with piston engines had to be used.
• When travelling to Mexico, it was recommended that
the pilot fly over the Atlantic Ocean, in either a Boeing
727 or a Caravelle, from airports in Bogotá, Cali or Medellín.
• For flights in small aircrafts they had to coordinate with
air traffic controllers at the airports in Manizales, Neiva,
Popayán, Ipiales, San Vicente and Armenia.
• The organization hired trustworthy personnel in each
airport, to verify the loyalty of the people bribed.
• The routes were previously coordinated with the people
in charge of the radars to avoid reports or, if necessary,
report fake coordinates.
• Any communication was done through stations HF,
aeronautic VHF, VHF citizen band, commercial or radioham and different frequencies were used in each flight.
WWW.POLICIA.GOV.CO
In Mexico.
• San Felipe, in Southern
California.
• San Miguel Allende,
in Guanajuato.
• Monclova, in Coahuila.
• Piedras Negras, in Coahuila.
• La Pesca, in the state
of Tampico.
• Navojoa, in Coahuila.
• La Paz, in Baja California.
• Puerto Escondido, in the
state of Guerrero.
• Ocotlan, in Jalisco.
• Tepic, in Nayarit.
• Laguna del Guaje, in Coahuila.
• Guaymas, in Sonora.
• Veracruz, in Veracruz.
• Ciudad Córdoba, in Veracruz.
• Cabo San Lucas, in Baja
California.
• Chichen Itzá, in Yucatan.
• Tapachula, in Chiapas.
• Los Mochis, in Sinaloa.
• Puente de Camotla, in Nayarit.
• Puerto Lempira, in Honduras.
• Piloto, in the state of Valverde,
Mao municipality, in the The Dominican Republic.
• The Dominican Republic also
had a lot of resorts, whose airports had neither security checks
nor air traffic control.
18
DRUG SUMMIT
MAY 2015
E
POLICÍA NACIONAL
ven though Nobel Prize Gabriel
García Márquez was reluctant to
writing prologues in books, he accepted to write one dedicated to
former Director of National Police, General Rosso José Serrano, in a book written
by the also former Director of the Force,
General Luis Ernesto Gilibert. The Nobel
describes his experience onboard an anti-narcotics chopper:
“A few years ago, a group of journalists
from the United States and a half dozen
Colombians, including myself, were invited to see a live demo of aerial war against
poppy crops in the central Andes mountain
range. It was a trip of an unarmed fleet of
choppers over a series of abysses, where a
chopper similar to ours had been downed
one week before from a guerrilla watchtower. Our companion and guide, also responsible for our lives, was general Rosso
José Serrano, commander in chief of the
National Police, who managed to pastor
our requests by providing us with a shower
of breaking news.
After about a half an hour flight, the choppers landed beside a poppy garden in a
secret valley. Two Police aircrafts finished
the demo in 10 minutes through bursts of
poisonous dust over the innocent flowers.
The image that stayed with all of us was
that the results were not worth the risk
and cost of extermining the narcotic plants
from the air.
The way back to the air base in Neiva was a
ghostly flight. Night was starting to fall and
UNPUBLISHED TEXT BY
THE COLOMBIAN WRITER
Gabo
in the secret
valley of poppy
choppers advanced stumbling in the midst
of a premonitory mist, within the reach of
the guerrillas watchtowers. Tension invaded us all. Except for the General, who
kept impassively writing on a notebook on
his lap. It was not until we landed that he
stopped his writing and breathed a sigh of
relief.
–I like writing in moments like this– he said
with a smile. It is good for your nerves.
Apart from other merits, the General holds
a reputation among journalists about his
instinct for news and the care for his public
image, so his sentence might have been interpreted as candy by the press. Now we
know it wasn’t: writing like that, in public
and in occasions of high risk is his way
of meditating on the nature of his job. He
does it without literary aspirations, in office notebooks or single paper sheets that
his cooperators rescue as raw material for
exhortations, table conversations or personal chats through which the General guides his men.
His close cooperators have had the good
idea of publishing a selection of those
pieces of writing, almost without his permission, and for a reduced audience. The
motive is worth it. The National Police,
that for years carried the burden of a sometimes well deserved discredit and which
seemed hopeless, enjoys today a particular
extent of public gratitute and credibility.
The reasons are several and varied, but
one of the most important ones is maybe
the result of those notes, which seem inspired by the Juarez truth that “respect for the
rights of others means peace.” These notes reveal, more than many political speeches, relentless pressure by Serrano on his
men in arms, to instill in them a new life
ethics code, founded on the dignity of the
job, on the worship for human rights and
in his almost obsessive dream that an unarmed country loves his men. Gabriel García
Márquez.”
With SSC-8 they could even
intercept the Public Forces.
T
he Cartel Cali relied
on interception devices and equipment in
land phone systems,
through which they were able
to intercept the conversations
of the Public Forces, enemies of
the organization and members
of the gang, in order to verify
their loyalty and avoid being
double-crossed.
This strategy was unmasked
on the August 6, 1995, during
the raid on apartment 1001, in
the apartment condo ‘Hacienda
Buenos Aires’, where Miguel
Rodriguez Orejuela was captured. There, they discovered
a multifunction analog system
- SSC-8, designed to intercept
telephone lines.
It appeared that, the Rodriguez
brothers had the cooperation of
employees from the telecommunications company in Cali, who
would have provided the Cartel
with the equipment. The company R.A.C. Engineers Ltd.,
authorized distributors of this
type of equipment, stated that
they had sold 35 SSC-8 systems
to the company Seiscor Tecnologies between 1994 and 1995,
but that they had not sold any of
this equipment to individuals.
‘Tacones’, the right-hand man
of the Rodríguez brothers, and
the Cartel’s head of communications, was in charge of establishing the contacts at the telecommunications company in
Cali and of manipulating these
analogical multifunctional intercepting systems, in order to
supply classified information to
ISSUE 21 - MAY 2015
the heads of the drug cartel.
The location of the equipment,
found in the apartment where
the cartel’s second in command
was captured, showed the importance of this system and
the intercepting it did, which
helped them gather sensitive
information to generate the
evasion strategies from Public
Forces operations and provide
internal controls to individuals
knowledgeable of the location
and movement data of the drug
lords.
DRUG TRAFFICKING
MAY 2015
19
POLICÍA NACIONAL
FROM BONFIRES WITH DOLLAR BILLS TO A REPLICA OF THE WHITE HOUSE
Twenty unusual stories about
the great drug lords
1
2
NINE WIVES. At his mansion in Boa Vista, Brazil, drug lord Macos Figueroa,
also known as ‘Marquitos’, the one with nine wives and 19 children, had an altar
full of lit candles and a tobacco to avoid being captured. Today his is in jail.
KILLING OF VIRGINS. Pablo Escobar recruited a group of handsome men
who he named ‘The Baits’, whose task was to recruit virgin girls between 14 and
16 years of age for the lord’s private parties. He ordered to kill 49 young girls
due to leaks of information.
3
SOPHISTICATED HIDEAWAYS. The Cali Cartel had their engineers and architects design well disguised electronic hideaways within the structure of their
buildings. Each team member involved in the developing and manufacturing of
these hideaways ended up dead.
4
THE DRUG LORD AND HIS WITCHES. Drug-trafficker Jorge Eliécer Rodríguez Orejuela used to consult three fortune tellers. Just prior to his detention
one of them told him she could see “a green, green, green mantle approaching.”
Orejuela asked if she was referring to a country house, and the witch replied she
meant the police.
5
6
7
BONFIRE WITH DOLLAR BILLS. To counteract bitter cold in a hideaway where drug lord Pablo Escobar was hiding, he decided to make a fire with bills
equivalent to two million dollars.
AFGHANS. The Cali Cartel decided to import experts from Afghanistan in
order to produce heroine in Colombia. To not raise suspicion, they pretended to
be tourists in Ecuador.
MARTELO’S ‘GAROTA’. The day drug lord Luis Fernando Murcia, alias “Martelo” was captured, he said with absolute outrageousness that since the day he
conquered and slept with a Brazilian beauty queen he did not care being put in
jail.
8
TALL TALE. When drug baron Carlos Lehder wanted to jump into politics he
closed down his campaign in packed Armenia’s Plaza de Bolívar because he
raffled a house and offered a box of Chinese rice to every attendee. In time, the
owner of a restaurant asked General Serrano how he could bill the drug lord for
10,000 boxes with rice that Lehder owed him.
9
ASTONISHED CADETS. At Air Force Base in Cali, just minutes before getting Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela on a plane heading to Bogota, the main leader
of the Cali Cartel felt the need to urinate. General Serrano, who had to walk him
to a tree where he could relieve himself, told the cadets that passed by: “Check this
out, this is Gilberto Rodriguez.” Astonishment was generalized. Once on board,
the detainee had to go to the bathroom again and, as there was no restroom, he was
given a plastic bag.
10
LENT JACKET. When drug lord Gilberto Rodríguez was getting ready to be
shown before the press in the General Directorate of the National Police, he
claimed to be very cold, since he had just arrived from Cali in a short-sleeved
shirt. They started to seek for a jacket and found the General Locator, a civilian at
the service of the Institution, so it was his overcoat that ended up warming up the
drug trafficker.
11
THE DRILL BIT. Twenty-one days prior to his capture, Miguel Rodríguez, the
second in charge of the Cartel, made it into a sophisticated cache that could only
be opened with the tip of a pin, and on which even general Serrano leaned back
without knowing he had been standing just 45 centimeters away from the fugitive.
After the realization of the fact that Rodriguez might be inside a hideaway, the
police called in locksmiths to drill the walls. One of the drill bits hurt Rodriguez in
his knee, though in the end the suspect managed to escape. A bloodstained pair of
jeans remained as evidence.
12
THE TELL-TALE CANDLE. Every night, the aforementioned dealer would light
candles to Virgin Mary so that the police would not capture him. In the early
morning of his detention in Cali, the whole building was in complete darkness,
except for the room he was in at the moment, where the protective light of the
candles led a police command to the lord’s whereabouts.
13
BOOKS PER METER. Cali cartel drug lords liked to pose as learned and cultured. They had luxurious libraries made in their mansions and purchased books
by the meter. Mafia leaders Jose Santacruz and ‘Pacho’ Herrera liked to buy
original works by world-class painters. All of them turned out to be pale imitations,
though.
14
AND THE FOOTPRINTS? A whistleblower striving for the millionaire reward
offered for Helmer ‘Pacho’ Herrera, informed of the exact whereabouts of the
Cartel’s fourth lord in command. In appearance it was him, yet once his ten
fingerprints were analyzed, the police ruled out the suspect as Herrera. The whistleblower, desperate, reprimanded the policemen for releasing him. “You see? You
should have also taken his footprints!”
15
16
PAINTED DONKEYS. When four zebras that belonged to Pablo Escobar were
seized, the drug lord had four donkeys painted in black and white stripes to
switch the zebras back.
THE JOKER. After his capture, the third drug lord of the Cartel, José Santacruz
Londoño, was sent to the General Directorate of the Police. There, to ease tension, and displaying his Cali-scented humor, started to tell jokes. Suddenly, an
officer warned that he knew a funny story that yet might be rather rude, to which
Santacruz wittily replied: “Don’t mind me, if you want I can always pop out and
leave.” Everyone exploded with laughter.
17
MEDDLING WAITER. Intelligence officers that had just captured the third
main drug trafficker of the Cartel, José Santacruz, were discreetly taking him
out of a restaurant in the north of Bogotá to avoid a shoot-out or any situation of
the kind. Once in the street, a waiter that had not realized about the police operation rushed out asking angrily who would pay the bill. An officer asked him to pull
47,000 pesos out of his wallet. The waiter saw the gun placed against Santacruz’s
ribs, retrieved the money and quivering got back inside.
18
THE WHITE HOUSE. Among drug lord Jose Santacruz´s eccentricities there
were two that stood out: he had a mansion identical to the White House in the
United States built and also ordered to make a replica of the famous and exclusive social club in Cali, which had denied him membership. Today both buildings
are in ruins.
19
IN THE DRUG LORD’S BED. In a different operation against ‘The Scorpion’,
30 men from the Search Squad seized one of his mansions. But when they
were about to take off aboard the choppers, a heavy, two-day long downpour
held them on land, which forced them to sleep in the mansion and buy provisions.
Immediately after that, the gossip in the area was that they were guerrilla-men.
20
EUROPEAN TOUCH. For one of his parties, Pablo Escobar brought from
Paris one of the most prominent ballet groups in the world, as well as a group
of models from different European countries.
DIRECTOR GENERAL POLICÍA NACIONAL: general Rodolfo Palomino López. SUBDIRECTORA GENERAL: mayor general Luz Marina Bustos
Castañeda. DIRECTOR DE ANTINARCÓTICOS: mayor general Ricardo Restrepo Londoño. JEFE DE COMUNICACIONES ESTRATÉGICAS:
coronel Gustavo Franco Gómez. COORDINACIÓN PERIODÍSTICA: teniente Nidia Amador Rodríguez, Jtefe Grupo Impresos y Publicaciones.
EQUIPO ESTRATÉGICO: Dirección de Antinarcóticos, Dirección de Inteligencia Policial y Dirección de Investigación Criminal e INTERPOL.
PERIODISTAS: Intendente Jefe Edgar Hernández, Subintendente Diego Martin DISEÑO Y DIAGRAMACIÓN: [email protected].
FOTOGRAFÍA: Presidencia de la República, Oficina de Comunicaciones Estratégicas, Impresos y Publicaciones y Grupo de Diseño Visual.
IMPRESIÓN: Casa Editorial El Tiempo. Las opiniones expresadas por los autores y sus fuentes no comprometen los principios de la
Policía Nacional de Colombia. [email protected] Carrera 59 No. 26-21 CAN - Pbx: 3159553
WWW.POLICIA.GOV.CO
DRUG SUMMIT
MAY 2015
CAPTURES
DRUG CROPS
977,361 drug traffickers fell (973,916
nationals and 3,445 foreigners). 2013
was the year of greater results with
the arrest of 91,551 nationals and 335
foreigners.
Justice managed to reduce coca
crops by 70 percent, from 162,510
to 48,189 hectares. 5,884,877 tons of
coca leaves seized.
DRUG LABS
FORFEITURE
16,789 have been destroyed (14,657
of cocaine base, 1,939 of cocaine,
74 of heroin, 113 of potassium
permanganate and 6 of ammonia).
101,797 identified and occupied
narco-property. In 2014, a record of
18,302 goods seized.
977,361
NUMBERS IN 20 YEARS OF WAR ON DRUGS
captures and 2,026 extradited drug lords
CHEMICAL PRODUCTS
FROM 1995 TO DATE, COCA CROPS HAVE
BEEN REDUCED BY 70%, 15,544 DRUG LABS
DESTROYED AND MORE THAN ONE MILLION KILOS
OF COCAINE SEIZED.
209,258 tones seized (105,100 solid
and 104,158 liquid). In 2009 a record
number of 29,930 tons (19,066 solid
and 10,864 liquid) was achieved.
HEROIN
9,058 kilos seized. In 2007, a record
of 732 kilos was reached.
EXTRADITIONS
AIRCRAFT
SYNTHETIC DRUGS
2,896,909 pills seized. In 2007,
milestone of 1,988,547 pills.
COCAINE AND CRACK
COCAINE
1,752,414 kilos of drugs seized:
1,259,202 of cocaine, 448,437 of
cocaine base and 44,775 of crack
cocaine. In 2008, the largest amount
of cocaine was confiscated: 119,108
kilos.
2,026 submitted for drug trafficking.
Record in 2012: 230 sent to other
countries’ justice. In just one year,
2011, 195 individuals were captured.
2,026 immobilized. In 2014, record
figure of 329 aircraft.
CLANDESTINE AIRSTRIPS
MARIJUANA
551 destroyed. 2000 set a record: 66.
3,175,476 tons of pressed marijuana
seized. 2013 was the year of greatest
impact: 347 tons.
ISSUE 21 - MAY 2015