Colombian Cartels Flashcards
(87 cards)
1
Q
where was the first producer of cocaine in the world?
A
Colombia
- 57% of world population
2
Q
Where has the oldest gurrilla conflict?
A
Colombia
- lasting more than 40 yrs
3
Q
where has the biggest amount of kidnappings in the word?
A
Colombia
- 2-3 thousand ppl kidnapped each yr
4
Q
where has the largest number of forced displaced ppl?
A
Colombia
5
Q
Colombia and formal education
A
Has 2.7 million kids out of the educational system- no formal education
6
Q
what is an issue in Colombia?
A
Large number of human rights violations each yr
7
Q
What does Colombia have in terms of democracy?
A
Has the oldest democracy in Latin America
8
Q
what was the economy like in Colombia during 20th century?
A
Was the strongest and most stable economy during the 20th century in L.A.
9
Q
How is the location of where Colombia is placed help OC groups?
A
Is the only country in South America to have both Pacific and Caribbean Coast.- trade routes
10
Q
Emeralds and Colombia
A
Is the world largest producer of emeralds- 60% produced here
11
Q
Colombia in producing bananas and coffee
A
Is the third largest producer of coffee and bananas in the world.
12
Q
what flower does Colombia produce?
A
orchards
13
Q
drug cartels
A
organizations that participate in the production, transportation, and distribution of illegal drugs.- employ numbers of trafficking like boats etc.
14
Q
sicarios
A
enforcer gangs
15
Q
Police corruption and government complicity
A
key part of success for cartels
16
Q
OC group vs drug cartels
A
- drug cartels set prices and control supply and demand of substances
- OC group engage in violence, crime, making money
17
Q
how is Ongoing drug war characterized?
A
characterized by heavy bloodshed- lots of use of violence and high rates of death
18
Q
where do coca leaves come from?
A
Peru and Bolivia
19
Q
What are coca leaves used for?
A
Leaves turned into paste then into powder which is then sold on the market
20
Q
Latin OC groups
A
- Bureaucratic structure- distinct roles and rigid jobs and there is a hierarchy top down- we see this in other OC groups
- Import criminal organizations along with the drugs they sell- Italian Mafia and Irish mafia, hells angels work together to import drug operations
21
Q
where in the world takes care of cocaine industry?
A
Control of most of the world’s cocaine industry remains in the hands of Colombian organizations
22
Q
why do Colombian OC groups dominate?
A
These groups dominate bc Colombia is close ish to US and it is only country that has access to Carribean sea and pacific coast line allowing access to boat and plane routes
23
Q
what is Colombia dominated by?
A
Colombia dominated by landowning elite – highly stratified
24
Q
La Violencia (1948-1958)
A
debased the incipient development of judicial and police apparatuses, as well as the moral foundations of political action” (Palacios 2007: 138)- wealthy land owners vs the poor and ppl losing lives- this occurred bc Colombia is highly stratified and economy owned by land dominating elite and poor got fed up w this and this ended when liberal and conservatists created national front but militaries still threatening
- 80,000 ppl killed
- purpose: seizure of land
- created thriving market in weapons
- military used to maintain control
25
what do drug traffickers exemplify?
lack of belief bc of corruption
26
drug traffickers in Colombia
- lack of belief in the legit of political and economic institutions
- Accepting of violation by others of the law
-Violence used frequent and murder is frequent- methods sadistic
- widespread use of violence to enhance fear
- homicide 8x higher
- murder is leading cause of death in males and highest child deaths in world
27
Corte de corbata
Colombian necktie cut throat longitudinally
28
when is there problems with the legitimacy of government?
Probs w legitimacy of government where they are unable to maintain control over these major cartel groups
29
the Institute of Advanced Chemical Research in Bogata- bolster performance
1968 Colombia establishes the Institute of Advanced Chemical Research in Bogata- bolster performance- top class chemist trained and employed by cartels and worked for them in DT industry
30
what led to Bolivian and Peru rivals?
Violence led to Bolivian and Peru rivals- war starts if ppl mess w market
31
what did the Italian mafia try to do?
try to monopolize cocaine market, challenged by Colombians- mafia received negative answers from Colombians to gain control over drug markets
32
what do many OC groups do together?
work in unison together
33
what did Economic modernization of Colombia fail Colombia to do?
failed to bring about a corresponding respect for government
34
Delegitimization of the government
as a result of la vialenscia
- Government unable to do anything ab this so the groups is successful
35
what crime developed for Colombian cartels?
Development of smuggling and money laundering
36
Speculative capitalism
focus on high short term profits, feature of Colombias financial elite, they provided resources for cocaine industry which is a lot of money as quick as possible
37
“ask no questions”
attitude of central bank and unregulated currency
38
politics of dope
- Movement of money stipulated tax
- Money laundered through urban and rural real estate and contraband imports some ended up in Colombian politicians campaigns
39
what did Marxist guerilla forces protect?
protect crops of drug businesses
40
Colombian military
make sure ppl on the land like the poor receiving money for coca being cultivated in the area- involved in human rights abuses- deprivation of human rights, ppl supportive of the rebels bc of this
41
coca currency
- In FARC controlled areas, the economy is built on coca and coca paste serves as the currency
- Columbia government evacuated armed forces
- Coca is exchanged for services and ppl buy things w coca
- Ship coca by ton- FARC taxes trade and makes sure money goes to the ppl
- Kidnappings in these areas
- controlled up to 40% of Colombia
- Since presidency their membership has decreased
42
FARC
-labor organizer keeping price up and tasking % from farmers
- FARC is organized hierarchically with a 7 member secretariat and a 27 member central general staff
- At the bottom of the hierarchy at 77 “fronts”- military units organized by geographical location
- Clusters of fronts form 7 blocs, each led by a
bloc commander”- 10 or 11 fronts in each block, each block has a commander so 7 commanders
- Membership is now estimated to be less than 10,000
43
preventing narcotraffickers
Prevent narcotraffickers from ripping off farmers and making sure they get what they deserve for their land and their effort
44
Tax traffickers
protecting smuggling routes that you can access what they need to, use of cocaine processing chemicals, export of expo cocaine shipped from region
45
When was Colombia's alliance to fight drug trafficking?
2010 US-Colombia alliance to fight drug trafficking
46
what occurred in 2008 to Colombians
In 2008 hundreds of thousands of Colombians demonstrated and marched in cities throughout the country to show their outrage at the kidnappings etc. carried out by FARC
47
AUC united self defense forces of Colombia
- opposition to FARC
- contests FARC as malicious
- Contesting FARC and other leftist militias are right-wing paramilitaries that often receive assistance from wealthy landowners, ranches and the Colombian military- operated on the right side and less to protect the farmers and more the wealthy land owners
- Ranchers helped transform this small group of outlaws into a formidable army
48
what drugs does Colombia control?
poppy and coca
49
Paramilitaries control
control several norther states that contain major drug trafficking routes, and they are aligned with one of the country's most notorious drug cartels – the Norte del Valle group-8000 well trained men battle against marxist gorillas
E.g. “the Headcutters”- their victims collab w left side are kidnapped and fond decapitated
50
militias
The militias have proven more effective against the guerillas than government forces- places pop at risk bc malicas have more power than Pablo
- Turn to politics for power by bribing or murdering candidates
- ”level of power than not even Pablo Escobar had”
- Militias also being reshaped into criminal networks that traffic in cocaine, extort from businesses and local government
51
what did paramilitary leaders agree to in 2003?
In 2003 paramilitary leaders agreed to dismantle and turned to politics to maintain power
52
cartel
a criminal network whose structure resembles that of a holding company- collection of flexible groups cordinating operations- each group has responsibility
- The cartels are compartmentalized- sells similar to Irish to control each step in processing and exporting cocaine intermediate
- each contains various sections
- Bureaucratic structure promotes greater efficiency and also protects the organization
- “few members of one section are aware of the others involved and the loss of one member if even a whole section does not threaten the stability of the entire organization”
- Lower levels workers move from one organization to to next- don’t even know what organization they work for
- Money goes to financial experts- familiar w international banking and ensuring money goes back to Colombia
- Cartels involved w bankers, lawyers who play a role in facilitating transactions
53
who are cartels vulnerable to?
Vulnerable to sophisticated law enforcement efforts- in order to keep eye on how their business is operating they need record keeping to track sales
54
what is impossible to do against Colombian groups?
Infiltrating a Colombian group is near impossible- hard to send law enforcement group
55
prospective wholesale buyer
Prospective wholesale buyer must establish his bona fides at an audience with top management in Colombia- if approved not required to pay cash upfront, sells drug to middle man, put collateral cash as insurance if he is caught by law enforcement and provide human colterol in form of family bc fam would pay if you get caught
most prominent:
- Financial collateral
- Human collateral
56
Medellin
a place in Colombia that makes violence on street most dangerous on earth- area of Colombia
- Brunt of civil war violence
- Rep for smuggling and pick pocketing- 9x murder rate than NY
- major drug trafficking
- Pablo is biggest member and Ocho clan and Carlos are founders of cartel
- Culture of violence and home to some of Colombia’s most notorious drug traffickers
57
Medellin cartel
the largest cocaine smuggling organization in the world
58
when was war declared on Colombian government?
1986
- ended in 1993 and 35,000 ppl have been killed by cartel
59
what happened after Pablo Escobar died?
- Death of Pablo Escobar did not end the operations of the organization
- Diego Fernando “Don Berna” Murillo-Bejarano took over the empire- referred to as exterminator and took over after Pablo
- No group or confederation replaced cartel
- Surrendered in 2005, extradited to US in 2008, pled guilty to conspiring multi ton quantities of cocaine in the US- this dismantled the cartel
60
cali cartel
lose alliance of 5 trafficking groups sharing kinship crime families as the chess player and his family
- Both brothers feared by others and used money obtained from kidnappings to finance entry into drug business in 1970s- more lowkey, they wanted to buy Colombia
- Kidnapping ring Marijuana cocaine
-Drug boom inspired competing cartel (vs. Medellin)
- Led by kinship/crime families of Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela and Miguel Orejuela and friend Jose Santacruz Londono
- Favored bribery over violence- more manipulative and low key
- Regional managers attended periodic business meetings in Cali
61
what were the 5 groups the Cali cartel were split into?
Split into 5 groups: narco-trafficking, military, political, financial, legal
62
where was cali cartel based and how did business work?
Cali operations in the US were in “Little Colombia” in NY where Colombians lived near airports- businesses and restaurants to filter money through, travel agencies- money to Colombia
- Cocaine was sold wholesale in each of the cells, each headed by manager
62
how was cali cartel different from Medellin cartel?
- low key
- manipulative
63
who did cell manager report to in Cali cartel?
- Cell managers reported to regional manager who oversaw the business
64
what happens if cali cartel received law enforcement attention and how could they avoid this?
If received law enforcement attention, they were moved to another cell- if police caught on
- Contained team of lawyers and P.I.’s
65
how did cali cartel communicate?
Constant phone communications = vulnerable to law enforcement but maintained contact w home in Colombia
66
the end of the cali cartel, what occurred?
- 1991: the Orejuela brothers and 42 other were indicted in the US for allegedly laundering $65M a year in drug profits from LA and Miami and NY
-1995 Gilberto was apprehended and Miguel was arrested 2 months later
-Brothers confessed to drug trafficking and agreed to turn over $2.1B in assets in order to secure leniency from the courts
-Sentences of 9 and 10 yrs then sentenced 30 yrs in prison
-1995 Londono indicted in the US and arrested in Colombia only to slip out of a max security prison in 1996. killed 2 months later- cali cartel being dismantled where 3 founders arrested and or killed
-1997 received sentences of 9 and 10 years
-2004 Gilberto extradited to the US, followed by Miguel, and sentenced to 30 years in prison
67
Evolution of Colombia drug business
- cocaine in entire chain
- profits so high
- broken link bdc Pablo was gone and dismantled cartel- they fell apart and smaller organizations replaced them
68
cartelitos
A multiplicity of smaller organizations cartelitos (baby cartels) is filling the void and lower profiles in Colombia
- this occurred after breakdown of Pablo's cartel
69
what occurred after breakdown of Pablo's cartel?
- cartelitos
- Independent traffickers who worked in the shadows of the cartels joined forces and the cycle continues- came together when there was gaps and holes in industry- independent traffickers into larger groups
70
what occurred in the absence of powerful drug lords?
-In the absence of powerful drug lords, the drug trade as become more decentralized
- Power shifted to experienced traffickers who are seizing opportunities to increase their own share in the trade- less of a monopoly on cocaine industry
71
what did Drug Enforcement Administration anticipate?
that Colombia-based cocaine- dominant player in 21st century, supply the source, Caribbean smuggling and dominate Europe and increases share in US heroine market, other ways to make money bc they aren't making as much money as cartels made- lots of their money goes through Mexico
72
progress of drugs in Colombia
- cocaine production reduced by 60%
- capture of drug lords or their deaths
- violent response by drug cartels
- Colombia currently gives technical advice about controlling drug trafficking to 7 countries in Latin America and 12 in Africa based on what they learned- dismantling cartel groups
73
what does drug related violence look like now?
Level of drug related violence has decreased 50%- pre high bc of all the violence during drug wars
74
where else produces just as much cocaine as Colombia?
As of 2010, Peru and Bolivia produce as much cocaine as Colombia
75
where are individuals recruited to with access to new cartels?
Many of individuals also relocated to Peru- new cartels pop up and individual traffickers get together and relocate to work together
76
when was there a spike in cocaine
2014-19 spike in coca in Colombia- successful in regaining cultivation of cocaine in Colombia
77
the Norte Del Valle Cartel
2006: the Norte Del Valle Cartel was locked in to a bloody war and the AUC had demobilized- competing groups
78
BACRIM
Was formed- the third generational of Colombian drug trafficking syndicates- 2 operate in Mediline- hard to incriminate and dismantle, most operate independently, all part of the same franchise business and removal of any node will not result in the fall of any other node- more diverse criminal profile- extortion, gambling, micro trafficking, dealing weed, synthetic drug trade, sell drugs to Colombians for consumption (Pablo never did this) leading to lots of illegal narcotics on the streets
- BACRIM and others work together to provide protection and services for a new generation of drug traffickers
79
how is control mandated in Mediline for drug trades?
No drug lord or single figure exercising control in Mediline or cocaine trade- these smaller groups have come together to operate drug trade in Colombia
- No single head
-Criminal networks made up of different independent nodes
-More diversified criminal portfolio when compared with Escobar
80
who is forefront of Colombia's underworld?
Medellin
81
new generation of drug traffickers
Groups working together for new generation drug traffickers- look like entrepreneurs or business people- more focus on business model and not on violent chaos
82
what are drug traffickers today not focused on?
Drug traffickers today not focused on US market, more on Europe market to take advantage of the Brazilian market or one growing in Argentina
83
clan de golfo
neo paramilitary group and Colombia's largest drug cartel
- main source of income is drug trafficking
- most powerful criminal organization in Colombia
- more than 3,000 members in inner circle and unknown for whole group
- rivals is national army
- This clan was then weakened bc of Danios arrest, downfall in criminal organization
84
who is the largest traffickers of cocaine?
The clan del Golfo- the gulf clan
85
who was most wanted drug lord from the gulf clan?
Danio was most wanted drug lord
- he was arrested
86
Pablo Escobar Documentary
- during last yr of his life pablo was most feared and most wanted marcoterrorist in the world
- He became world's most feared fugitive and public enemy after waging a war of terror against the entire nation of Colombia
- Colombia's enemy is Pablo- kills women, men and children for fun
- He thinks it was not worth being in this world without money- 30 million pasos
- Pablo became known to public in 1970s- went to prison but free few months later
- He built lakes, landing strips on his property- whatever you wanted you had
- he smuggled a zoo
- man getting pushed in pool and drowning bc he was tied up for stealing from Pablo
- Robin hood-Pablo was known as
- Construction of neighborhood to solve prob of slum- pablo forced ppl to donate money for the neighborhood
- If he gave you a gift you were expected to respond in kind- he is buying protection
- Pablo donating money to campaigns but not knowing where money is coming from- he was then expelled from political party
- Pablo's power in politics, not only guns and money
- Pablo linked to money laundering
- Pablo wants to serve the community for being in politics- but retires from this
- Drug lords controlled 70-80% of drug control in Colombia
- Pablo was a friend of the police at this time when he was being looked for
- Kid gets a bomb to bomb the car- governor of Antioquia- friends w Pablo
- Pablo was chief of all criminal organizations in Colombia is how he thought of himself
- any excuse to use violence many of these ppl had
- Violence carried out by cartels- drug traffickers financed by all cartels- the only thing they feared was being extradited
- Soak trafficking in so much blood turned into narco-terrorism- business of death, exploitation of power- killing police and others
- receiving money from DA or mafia
- Enemies are those who use intimidation or violence
- Luis carlos galan earns great visibility bc he stands against Pablo and traffickers and favors extradition
- Considering treatment that is less harsh- did not work for Pablo bc he refused to turn himself in until extradite was not happening
- Pablo surrendered once extradition was revoked in national assembly- this abandons path of narco terrorism- Pablo on path to justice
- Pablo goes to special prison- the security scheme fell apart bc everyone turned to look at Pablo bc he was legendary
- Pablo turns himself into jail so his fam could have peace, he could not handle pressure on his fam
- Pablo no longer drug trafficker- his partners took liberties and settled up w them, generated great divide in mafia
- Burning bodies on fire and pouring acid on bones and hammer down w nail gun to get rid of them
- Kidnapped minister of justice and chief of prisons
- Pablo escaped from prison- now they don’t want to capture him alive, they want him dead
- Pablo is to be captured and face justice system
- Used most advanced equipment to get Pablo- while on the loose he killed police officers and around 30 others
- Pablo became public enemy when he escaped from jail
- Pablo trying to get his fam out of country bc they were vulnerable
- Making terrorist attacks where he could, not where he wanted to- Pablo's fam brought somewhere where they could be offered top notch security- state was saying they were protecting his fam but they were doing intelligence work- they were trying to get to Pablo through his family- ppl kept disappearing magically like teachers etc.
- Pablo asked for protection by united nations and journalists for new surrender
- Pablo left prison bc he was scared of getting killed?- his intention is to go to another prison but needs to know security system
- Privileges for security is what Pablo was expecting
- Pablo was never going to surrender even though he said so
- Pablo then called his fam one day for a long time which tracked him and pinpointed his exact location for prosecutors
- Reporter calls after Pablo's call to tell his family Pablo is dead- his son threatened to kill everyone
- His son realized he is turning into what he didn’t like ab what his father did
- Pablo died for his family
- Pablo was seen as a monster
- everyone wanting to touch his casket at the funeral for Pablo
