TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/091189/09118900.050

Text File | 1992-09-23 | 5.5 KB | 110 lines

                                                                                NATION, Page 23

Blandishments and Bombs


As U.S. aid begins to arrive, Colombia's battle with the
cocaine cartel intensifies


    The letter in the Bogota newspaper El Tiempo oozed concern,
urging Colombian President Virgilio Barco Vargas to back away
from his country's declaration of war against the cocaine
cartel. "Let there be dialogue, let there be peace," the writer
pleaded. In exchange for government amnesty for his three sons,
he offered to end his family's role in future cocaine
trafficking. "Let us not be arrogant or stubborn," the writer
said. "We are all brothers."

    The author was Fabio Ochoa Restrepo, 65, a corpulent
Medellin horse breeder whose sons, Jorge Luis, Fabio Jr. and
Juan David, are near the top of the "Dirty Dozen" list of
Colombian drug traffickers most wanted by the U.S. Government.
The elder Ochoa is described by authorities as the founder and
paterfamilias of the Medellin cocaine cartel.

    Ochoa's unctuous appeal marked a new turn in Colombia's
battle to the death with the drug barons. With the first dollops
of $65 million in U.S. emergency assistance to the Bogota
government due in Colombia this week, the cocaine cartel fought
back with a mixture of violence and blandishments aimed at
dividing its foes. The most chilling incident came Saturday,
when a huge car bomb exploded outside the plant of the Bogota
newspaper El Espectador, killing at least one, injuring 80, and
destroying half the building. El Espectador has long been a
crusader against the drug traffickers. In 1986 its editor,
Guillermo Cano, was machine-gunned to death by the cartel's
hitmen.

    The newspaper bombing climaxed a barrage of violence aimed
at government targets that the drug lords unleashed last week.
At least 17 bombs went off in Medellin, destroying a paint
factory and damaging eleven government-owned banks and five
liquor stores.

    The government countered with a 10 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew in
Medellin. Colombian authorities had already arrested 11,000
people and seized more than 600 pieces of cartel-owned real
estate; last week they raided 100 additional properties and
swept up 1,000 more suspects. Despite the dragnet, all the Dirty
Dozen, including cartel leaders Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Jose
Gonzalo ("El Mexicano") Rodriguez Gacha, and the three Ochoa
brothers, remained at large.

    The government, however, was making some important gains.
Two weeks ago, the Colombian army descended on an opulent ranch
maintained by Gacha north of Bogota. The raid netted his son
Fredy and a trove of of documents. Last week the paper trail led
soldiers to a nondescript office building in the capital. In a
suite labeled Commercial Coordinators, Ltd., they uncovered the
computerized nerve center of Rodriguez Gacha's intricate
multibillion-dollar financial operation, which included 65 shell
companies designed to hide drug profits.

    U.S. officials believe an earlier government victory might
have sparked the latest escalation in the drug war. On Aug. 9
the national police raided a jungle cocaine lab and found 1,200
kilos of cocaine and 500,000 gal. of chemicals, primarily ether,
used to refine the drug. The chemical haul was enough to produce
about 125 metric tons of cocaine, some 25% of the cartel's 1988
production. One week later, the cartel retaliated by murdering
a Medellin police chief, a judge and Colombian presidential
candidate Senator Luis Carlos Galan.

    The big question remains whether any of Colombia's
successes will lead to crippling arrests or to what the drug
lords appear to fear most: extradition to the U.S. The
Extraditables, as the Medellin branch of the Dirty Dozen call
themselves, seem willing to do anything to prevent that
possibility, which President Barco revived by emergency decree
after Galan's death. Last week, as Justice Minister Monica de
Greiff met in Washington with Bush Administration officials, one
of Colombia's highest priorities was funding for a vast
steel-reinforced bunker courtroom to protect judges and their
employees, many of whom have been terrified into inaction.

    De Greiff, 32, is a target herself. She advanced her
Washington journey after a car bomb was found outside her home.
Earlier she had received a call that warned, "You are definitely
our next victim." Last week the young minister denied reports
that she would resign and seek asylum in the U.S. "The law is
under siege in Colombia," she said. "We must protect it in every
way we can."

    The true test of that protection could begin this week,
when the Medellin cartel's financial wizard, Eduardo Martinez
Romero, is scheduled to be shipped from Bogota to Atlanta. He
is wanted in the U.S. in connection with a scheme to launder
$1.2 billion in Colombian cocaine proceeds through a series of
banks. Martinez is appealing his extradition, and there is a
chance Colombian courts will concur. One possible ground: there
is no law against money laundering in C in Colombia. Two weeks
ago, the cartel threatened to kill ten Colombian judges for
every accused trafficker extradited.

    Already, a few voices were being raised in Colombia in
support of Ochoa's suggested dialogue. But Barco's aides say he
is still determined to press ahead. "The President is committed
to using all his resources to drive these people out of
Colombian territory," said presidential press secretary Gabriel
Gutierrez. But are those resources adequate?