As of Thomas Constanin's (Director of the DEA) last visit to Bogota in April ('95), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been in charge of all operations involved in finding and capturing the Cali Cartels drug dealing leaders. No doubt this is due to the fact that Colombian President Ernesto Samper, was given an ultimatum of having to allow "the Company" (this is how we called the intelligence agency amongst ourselves) with all of its funds and resources into Colombia, this was assured to me by "Juan" during my recent clandestine visit.
I did not return to operate in Colombia until the end of July. From the beginning, one of our supervisors in Bogota, during a meeting prior to the operation in progress, warned us that if in the course of our investigations we bumped into any clues about the Cartel, we should limit ourselves to transmit the information to the agency leader within our DEA group. The agent would be in charge of delivering the information to "The Company" and we should then dissolve ourselves of any involvement with the operation from that point onwards. The order was definitive: "Disconnect yourselves from Cali because all operations are being handled by the CIA."
The truth is that I had no instances with the Cali people myself, during my trip, but when I returned to Bogota I found that the whole American Embassy was celebrating over the fall of one of the leaders of the Cali Cartel. Like all successful operations, a big celebration was organized, this time it was held within the residential complex where all the agents designated to Bogota live. By habit Hamer (a Panamanian Citizen who we called "martillo") offered to cook a feast. He is a good host and loves to grill. I do not know if he learned this during his military career in Peru or during his stint as part of Noriega's Defense Team. Obviously, I joined the party and between drinks, Lawrence, one of the 4 consulate DEA supervisors in Bogota, explained to me that he was trying to capture the whole Cali Cartel, one leader after another.
Here we have demonstrated that "the Company" has the means that are missing -- explained Lawrence, a blond, blue eyed, medium built Yankee. They sent 150 unidades and they distributed money wherever until DELACIONES began to appear. Above all, echoed the sentiment that because the CIA had been involved they (The Cartel) had begun to turn themselves in, because they knew that the CIA does not have the legal limitations that the DEA has and they can therefore eliminate all those that resist. Within this context, it must be understood that the DEA cannot pay informants until an operation has ended successfully and then a maximum of $1 million dollars are distributed to the "Indian Charlie", the cooperating informant (CI) who has helped throughout the investigations. By contrast, the CIA has carte blanche to distribute rewards without limit and without the operation having had to come to an end.
In addition, the Bogota Embassy DEA chief, who had been at his job a mere 2 months, revealed to me that the he arrived with specific instructions to get Samper to resubmit the constitutional reform to the Senate that reinstates the extradition treaty with the U.S. Since the Embassy's pressure on Samper was becoming intolerable, they were confident that the President would send the law to the Senate, probably at the last minute so that it would be approved during the night, and the Colombian people would awake to a done deal, what we call a "madrugonazo". I already knew what was behind this American determination to extradite the Cali Cartel to the U.S., but Lawrence confirmed it by stating: "Imagine...only with Londoño (Jose Santa Cruz) we have captured $7 million dollars in cash and property, and he is only ranked 3rd!".
The motive behind wanting to process the Cartel's richest members within the U.S. was very clear. I already explained that the DEA only operates when it is lucrative, without really evaluating whether its actions will have an affect on the reduction of drug trafficking, but in the case of the Cali Cartel the matter involves capturing over $17 million dollars . In this case the CIA intervenes and that is why it is convenient to detain the Cartel within the U.S. where judges can offer them a reduction in time in exchange for declaring themselves guilty. By declaring guilty, the US can immediately confiscate all assets and property.
The Orejuela, Londonños and the others are obviously in despair, since they know that by being sent to the US they will lose everything, otherwise, if they do not declare themselves guilty they can be sentenced to death by a jury. This law was recently approved, and aimed primarily against the drug trafficking network even if there is no evidence of homicide. For that reason, Miguel R. Orejuela offered to turn himself into the Colombian authorities and give the state 80% of all of his assets in exchange for not being extradited to the U.S. and serving out his sentence in his own country.
In a similar situation, Miguel's brother, Jorge Jr. was sentenced to only 5 years in jail and he cannot be charged for the same crimes again. When the Cali Cartel members remain sentenced and jailed within Colombia, assets and properties that were not products of drug money laundering are not captured by the authorities. By contrast, if the U.S. captures them they seize absolutely all of their assets. The most infuriating thing about Washington D.C. is that they are determined to risk Colombia's own democratic system , the same system the U.S. claims to protect for the world, in order to attain a more lucrative objective.
Recently, with a falsified DEA report from the authorities in Washington, the DEA extorted Endara and the Panamanian Senate to approve an unjust TALM, by openly threatening to destroy the Panamanian democratic system. When the TALM, was finally approved, the scandal and all the investigations came to a halt and Endara was able to finish his presidential term. With this same type of scheme, with similar tactics, the U.S. is repeating this in Colombia, and as its weapon, the US threatens to sink the Colombian Constitution.
Let's look at the evidence. When Samper became president, the DEA began to filter tapes to the conservative leader, Andres Pastrana and the media; the same tapes that we held for many months. Sure there were certain accords among the drug dealers and the political campaigns of both candidates before the elections, but neither Samper nor Pastrana left written evidence of such accords. Samper was pressured with more and more revelations that ultimately involved his campaign treasurer, who confessed to everything in order to save his neck. Finally, the president accepted the CIA intervention in Colombia, believing that the imprisoning of the Cali Cartel would put an end to the matter. The tension however, continues to mount because the U.S. seeks to get the Constitutional extradition of the Cali Cartel. Samper, ultimately has had to sacrifice his Defense Minister, Fernando Botero, as his political scape goat in the hope that the so called material evidence against him will prove his innocence.
This sacrifice, however, was not enough for Washington. They further intervened and blackmailed Pastrana with evidence against his party in order to get him to demand Samper's resignation and break party collaboration. The president has no alternative but prepare the "madrugonazo" of the extradition, and declare a state of emergency in order to contain any violence this action might provoke.
When the Attorney General, Alfonso Valdivieso, states that the anti- extradition vote "was an error", he says it by lowering his eyes, without looking at the cameras nor the reporters, because he himself is not convinced but he has been forced to make the statement. The DEA itself taught me to detect this type of gesture in people when analyzing interviews or studying tapes.
Washington is definitely closing the coffin on Colombia. Each nail results in a terrible violent episode, economic crisis and misery, and perhaps lead to a military dictatorship. All of this because the US wants to appropriate itself of the Cali Cartel profits. This is totally unjustifiable no matter how involved Colombian politicians are within the drug cartel.