kingpin Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela once declared, “We don’t kill judges or ministers; we buy them.” Lee, “Transnational Organized Crime,” 8. See also Zaitch, Trafficking Cocaine, 54.
154. Strong, Whitewash, 225.
155. Kenney, From Pablo to Osama, 88.
156. “Target: Cali Cartel,” Tampa Tribune, 17 June 2001, 1.
157. Taylor v. United States, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18099; Confesiones secretas, 49–60; “The Cali Connection,” SPT (US), 31 July 1995, 1A; “The Downfall of Jungle Mike,” SPT (US), 12 September 1993, 1F; “Pieces in Local Drug Puzzle Point to Cartel,” SPT (US), 8 May 1988, 1A; “Man Accused in Smuggling Once Called One-Man Peace Corps,” SPT (US), 5 May 1988, 4A; “Tsalickis Gets Twenty-Seven Years for Smuggling Cocaine,” SPT (US), 17 February 1989, 1B; Schreider and Schreider, Exploring the Amazon, 134–35, 141–43, 152–53.
158. Although Santacruz Londoño escaped from prison in January 1996, Colombian police killed him in less than two months.
159. Rempel, At the Devil’s Table, pp. 305, 315. After secret DEA negotiations, Pallomari flew to the U.S. and voluntarily surrendered for fear of being killed by Cali Kingpins for his knowledge of their operations. “Top Cali Aide Surrenders to U.S. Officials,” WP (US), 22 September 1995, A1. See also Confesiones secretas, 61–68, 188–90, and Kenney, From Pablo to Osama, 37–38.
160. See United States v. Klimavicius-Viloria, 144 F.3d 1249.
161. Farer, Transnational Crime, xiv.
162. “Latin America’s Fragmenting Narcotics Industry,” Guardian (United Kingdom), 28 November 1997, 13.
163. For Defense Intelligence Agency information, see Chepesiuk, Hard Target, 276.
164. For the statement by rear admiral Joseph Nimmich, see “Drug Suspect’s Arrest Hailed,” LAT (US), 13 September 2007, A4.
165. Castillo, Jinetes de la cocaína, quoted in Thoumi, “Illegal Drug Industry,” 119. For Cali contributions to Samper, see Crandall, Driven by Drugs, 83–88.
166. U.S. Senate, Corruption and Drugs, 7, cited in Jordan, Drug Politics, 168.
167. See the affidavit filed by FBI special agent Roderick D. Huff in United States v. Valencia-Trujillo, No. 8:02- CR-329-T-17-EAJ (hereafter cited as “Huff affidavit”), 44.
168. More than 1,300 people were killed in the first ten months of 2004 alone. Chepesiuk, Drug Lords, 264.
169. “Reputed Cocaine Boss Arrested in Colombia,” WP (US), 11 September 2007, A13. For Northern Valley cartel infighting, see Garzón, Mafia and Co., 36–41.
170. “Colombian Drug Lords Toppled,” Christian Science Monitor (US), 13 September 2007, 6.
171. See “EEUU congela bienes a capo ligado a empresas en Guatemala,” Siglo Veintiuno (Guatemala) (hereafter cited as SV [GU]), 29 March 2007, 8. At Fabio Ochoa’s 2003 trial U.S. federal prosecutors argued that between 1997 and 1999 Ochoa’s operation had exported 30 tons of cocaine a month. “Ochoa culpable,” LP (PA), 29 May 2003, 2A.
172. See INCSR (2001), 2:4, 4:18, and “Intelligence Network Threatens to Drop Country,” TT (CR), 26 October 2007, 7.
173. Francisco Thoumi observed, “The illegal [drug-trafficking] . . . industry and the guerrillas have been strange bedfellows. At times the government has been their common enemy, but they have fundamentally opposite goals. The industry represents a crude, unrestrained form of capitalism, while guerrilla organizations have their origins in the fight against the unfair, crude capitalism that has prevailed in Colombia. The conflict between the long-term goals of these two social groups is irreconcilable.” Thoumi, Political Economy, 159. See also Lee, “Colombia’s Cocaine Syndicates,” 17.
174. “U.S. Government Identifies FARC ‘Kingpin’ Operative Here,” NT (CR), 10 October 2008, N2.
175. INCSR (2004), 18, and INCSR (2008), 120.
176. A useful source on Castaño’s career, written by Pulitzer Prize–winning Colombian journalist Gerardo Reyes, is Nuestro hombre en la DEA. Castaño was killed in 2006, allegedly on orders of his brother Vicente. See also “Castaño, asesinado por su hermano,” LP (PA), 25 August 2006, 30A, and “Policía y ejército buscan a Castaño,” LP (PA), 14 October 2006, 6A.
177. See Decker and Chapman, Drug Smugglers, 35–36, and Garzón, Mafia and Co., 107.
178. Indeed, as late as 2006 the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy estimated that of the $13.8 billion that Mexican syndicates had amassed in total annual revenues, more than 60 percent, or $8.6 billion, continued to come from marijuana. “Economic Battle.”
179. Zabludoff, “Colombian Narcotics Organizations,” 29; INCSR (1998), 4; Bonner, “New Cocaine Cowboys,” 36–37.
180. See Bonner, “New Cocaine Cowboys,” 37, and INCSR (1998), 4.
181. DEA, History Book, 1985–1990.
182. CIA, Allegations of Connections, 7.
183. Huff affidavit, 43–44.
184. For NAFTA’s effect on trafficking and interdiction, see Andreas, Border Games, 74–82; The trade liberalization marked by Mexico’s 1986 accession to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade also stimulated cross-border trade.
185. “Mexican Drug Traffickers Eclipse Colombian Cartels,” WP (US), 30 March 1997, 1A.
