Othoniel, drug lord who terrorized Colombia, sentenced to 45 years
- August 8, 2023
- 0
Dairo Antonio Usuga, aka “Othoniel”, a drug lord who led a dangerous bay clan and sowed terror in Colombia to flood the world with tons of cocaine, he
Dairo Antonio Usuga, aka “Othoniel”, a drug lord who led a dangerous bay clan and sowed terror in Colombia to flood the world with tons of cocaine, he will spend the next 45 years behind bars in the United States, the country that is the main recipient of his criminal enterprise.
Othoniel, 51, who admitted to presenting nearly 97 tons of cocaine from Mexico and Central America in the United States, was described by his authorities as a “narco-terrorist” comparable to Pablo Escobarformer leader of the Medellin Cartel, both for his power and the brutality with which he used it.
Judge Dora Irizarri, in New York federal court, handed down the harshest sentence requested by prosecutors on Tuesday. three cases of drug trafficking to which he pleaded guilty last January and avoided a jury trial.
Crimes taken on by ex-Colombian kingpin led to criminal organization, maritime conspiracy to bring drugs into the United States and conspiracy to distribute drugs; concepts brought to life inbloody reignin Colombia and other countries.
most wanted in colombia
Not in vain, for years Colombia’s Most Wanted Drug Dealerwhere the government called him a “symbol of evil” and is charged with a long list of crimes, from murder and using minors to commit crimes to carrying weapons and sexually abusing women and minors.
Dairo Antonio Osuga began his criminal career in 1989, at the age of 18, in a guerrilla unit. People’s Liberation Army (ELP), the extreme left, and after this organization signed a peace agreement in 1991 with the government of Cesar Gaviria, it entered into United Self-Defense Forces of Colombiafar-right paramilitary group, where he became involved in the drug trade.
As he told Judge Irisarri when he pleaded guilty, he was demobilized in 2005 and attempted to reintegrate into society, but “due to internal conflict and the security situation”, he said, he ended up joining the Colombian Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces (AGC), as Clan del Golfo is also known.
Gulf clan leader
After the capture of then-leader Rendon Herrera, nicknamed “Don Mario” in 2009, Othoniel rose through the ranks, and in 2012, when his brother Juan de Dios Usuga was killed in a police operation, he remained in charge of the organization for almost a decade, until he was not captured in the mountains of Antioquia.
One of the world’s leading distributors of cocaine, Clan del Golfo uses military tactics and guns to exercise power over its territories, maintains its control with hitmen, and finances itself by charging a fee for every kilogram of cocaine produced, stored and sold. in their possessions, according to US Justice
The Colombian authorities realized the scope of Otoniel’s operation after his arrest in 2021: “He had the ability to transport about 20 tons of cocaine per month,” the statement said.
“Bloody reign” in Colombia
In addition to the cocaine trail, Othoniel left a trail of dead people during his criminal career: police, military, drug dealers, paramilitariespotential witnesses and civilians.
The indictment document from the United States, where he was transferred in 2022 with an agreement that exempted him from life imprisonment, since such a sentence does not exist in Colombia, shows some of the nefarious methods used excapo spread terror.
Othoniel instructed the members of the Clan to perform acts extreme violencesuch as torture and murder against rivals, traitors and their relatives, as well as imposed “work stoppages” on businesses and the appeal of residents to areas of their territory with orders to execute all those who did not comply.
Members of the group, numbering around 6,000, also under their command conducted campaigns against law enforcement officers using live weapons such as grenades and machine guns to dissuade them from work and silence witnesses.
22 of his relatives fell before Othoniel, three of them are dead, and the rest are in the hands of the authorities, all taxpayers drug empire which, despite everything, is still active and is present in almost thirty countries on four continents, according to the Colombian police.
EFE
Source: Aristegui Noticias
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