Reuters photo
By
Ricardo Swire
Constant international law enforcement collaboration has dismantled some legendary drug trafficking strongholds. On Friday May 25, 2018 Colombian assassin “Popeye” was detained by National Police of Colombia officers, assisted by US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). 2017 intelligence records quoted a high-level source from “Oficina de Envigado,” the criminal syndicate that controls underworld activity in Medellin, who revealed Popeye was blackmailing former cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar’s emissaries.
During his reign as a “Drug Lord” Escobar supplied America with eighty percent of its cocaine supply. Following his death, in a dramatic gun battle with Colombian police, the Medellin Cartel boss-of-bosses was worth US$30 billion or £18 billion. Annually in Medellin devotees continue to celebrate the anniversary of his birth and death, or December 1st 1949 and December 2nd, 1993. Records reveal that in one contract killing Popeye was ordered by Escobar to eliminate Wendy Chavarriga, his fiancée. She was found guilty of deception by informing to the Cali Cartel.
Up to the point of his 1992 arrest the Colombian ‘Sicario” had killed two hundred and fifty people. Popeye also detonated more than two hundred and fifty car bombs, plus staged several kidnappings. One of the abductees was “Andres Pastrana,” who later became Colombia’s thirtieth president from 1998 until 2002. National security officials linked Popeye to the 1989 Avianca airline jet bombing that killed one hundred and nine persons aboard. The 1990 assassination of Luis Carlos Galan was also his handiwork.
During his criminal tirade Popeye used dynamite to shake Colombia, detonating two hundred and fifty bombs across Cali, Bogota and Medellin. More recently the former Colombian Armed Forces Marine attempted to illegally retrieve real estate and cash, acquired in 1993, now the property of Escobar’s family and Medellin Cartel partners. The fifty-six year old Colombian narco celebrity assassin was greatly feared in El Poblado, where some of Colombia’s richest citizens live.
Proof directly connected Popeye to three hundred killings. He additionally ordered three thousand murders. In December 2017 National Police of Colombia officers, assisted by American counterparts, detained the Oficina de Envigado’s most senior member “Carlos Chata.” CARICOM intelligence officials theorize such detention led to Popeye’s 2018 interception and arrest. Together Carlos Chata and Popeye extorted former Medellin Cartel capos.
Similar combined international law enforcement efforts have also shutdown Colombian criminal heavyweights “Don Berna” and “Sebastian.” Don Berna’s plea-bargain refused by New York federal prosecutors. Today technology savvy Colombian traffickers the “Invisibles,” who promote a more secretive yet deadly profile, have filled the local void. Another powerful criminal network, comprised of ex-FARC members, dominate Colombia’s cocaine production.
Ricardo Swire
Ricardo Swire is the Principal Consultant at R-L-H Security Consultants & Business Support Services and writes on a number of important issues.