Otoniel: Colombia drug kingpin extradited to US

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

Otoniel: Colombia drug kingpin extradited to US

5 May 2022

Colombia has extradited the drug baron leader of the country's biggest crime gang to the US, Colombia's president has announced.

President Iván Duque said Dairo Antonio Úsuga, better known as Otoniel, was the world's most dangerous trafficker.

Otoniel led the Gulf Clan cartel and is wanted in the US on drug trafficking charges.

His capture in October ended a seven-year manhunt and last month Colombia's Supreme Court approved the extradition.

The Gulf Clan trafficked between 180 and 200 tonnes of cocaine a year, according to Colombian authorities.

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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-61329507


(EPA)

[Judi Lynn]

1. Urabeos Seek to Paralyze Parts of Colombia After Otoniel's Extradition

6 MAY 2022 BY CHRIS DALBY

Shortly after the extradition of former Urabeños leader, Otoniel, to the United States, the armed group ordered a show of force across Colombia, imposing strict curfews on communities, burning vehicles and blocking off highways.

The first actions took place on May 4, the same day that Dairo Antonio Úsuga, alias “Otoniel,” the former commander of the Urabeños, was extradited. Members of the group detained mine workers traveling along a river in Nechí, a town in the north of the department of Antioquia, according to newspaper Semana. The workers were released a short time later but were told all transport along the river was forbidden.

However, this has since grown into a major incident involving over 100 acts of violence, mostly in northern Colombia. The department of Antioquia is the worst-affected, according to news organization Caracol, with over 35 municipalities affected. On May 6, at least one homicide in the town of Fredonia was connected to the paro armado (armed strike) by the Urabeños. Some rural parts of Antioquia reported having their supply of gas shut off. and blockades along highways had reportedly left at least 33 municipalities inaccessible by road.

In Bajo Cauca, a drug trafficking hotspot also in Antioquia, business owners received messages from the Urabeños, ordering them to close for four days. Similar shutdowns were ordered in municipalities under the control of the group in the northern departments of Atlántico, Magdalena, Chocó, Urabá, Cesar and Córdoba. This even reached parts of Medellín, Colombia’s second-largest city.

More:
https://insightcrime.org/uncategorized/urabenos-seek-to-paralyze-parts-of-colombia-after-otoniels-extradition/

[Judi Lynn]

2. AGC shuts down northwest Colombia after extradition of "Otoniel"

Paramilitaries respond to extradition of former leader with terror campaign
by Adriaan Alsema May 6, 2022

Paramilitary group AGC began a four-day terror campaign in northwest Colombia on Wednesday in response to the extradition of their former leader, “Otoniel.”

One person was assassinated in the Cordoba province on Thursday allegedly for opening his shop against paramilitary orders.

Public transport companies suspended their services in AGC-controlled territories after at least 50 vehicles were incinerated by presumed paramilitaries.

. . .

In Cordoba and Antioquia, 15 local radio stations shut down after receiving threats from the AGC, according to press freedom foundation FLIP.

More:
https://www.newsnow.com/us/World/Latin+America?utm_source=newsnow&utm_campaign=EditionCrosslink-US&utm_medium=link&utm_content=Snackbar

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Wikipedia description of this powerful Colombian cartel, the AGC:

The Clan del Golfo (English: The Gulf Clan), also known as Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – AGC) and formerly called Los Urabeños and Clan Úsuga, is a prominent Colombian neo-paramilitary group and currently the country's largest drug cartel. It is based in the Urabá region of Antioquia, and is involved in the Colombian armed conflict.[5][6][7] Los Urabeños is one of the organizations that appeared after the demobilization of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. In late 2011 Los Urabeños declared war on Los Rastrojos over the control of the drug trade in Medellín.[8] Their main source of income is cocaine trafficking as they appear to be the largest distributors of cocaine in all of Colombia.[9][7] As of late 2021, it is considered the most powerful criminal organization in Colombia, having some 3,000 members in the inner circle of the organization in 2016 with its current numbers unknown.[1As of late 2021, it is considered the most powerful criminal organization in Colombia, having some 3,000 members in the inner circle of the organization in 2016 with its current numbers unknown.[10][11] Its rivals include0][11] Its rivals include the National Liberation Army or ELN.

One of the many groups made up of former mid-level paramilitary leaders, the Clan have caused homicide rates to skyrocket in Colombia's northern departments. It is currently one of the more ambitious and ruthless of Colombia's drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). The group's power base is currently in the Antioquia, Sucre and Córdoba departments, with a presence in various other departments and regions in the country including major cities such as Medellín and Bogotá[12] Currently, the Clan is likely the single largest distributor of cocaine in the world having formed direct, highly-lucrative partnerships with drug cartels in Mexico as well as European crime groups such as 'Ndrangheta and the Albanian mafia which split their billions made in profit from the illegal cocaine trade with the Clan.[7][13]

. . .

Popular culture and coverage
The Clan del Golfo has, as of recently, been featured and discussed in several documentary programs such as the series by Vice titled Criminal Planet (2021) as well as the British television program called Cocaine: Living with the Cartels (2019).

The program by Vice attempted to expose the strong connection and extremely lucrative partnership the Clan reportedly shares with the Albanian mafia in their massive cocaine pipeline to the markets in Europe, particularly in London.[7] The British program Living with the Cartels takes four admitted middle class cocaine users from the U.K. to Colombia where they meet low-ranking members of the Clan to witness the purported origins of "where their cocaine comes from".

More:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_del_Golfo#:~:text=The%20Clan%20del%20Golfo%20(English,the%20country's%20largest%20drug%20cartel.