TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=89TT2372> <title> Sep. 11, 1989: Blandishments And Bombs </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989 Sep. 11, 1989 The Lonely War:Drugs </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> NATION, Page 23 Blandishments and Bombs </hdr><body> 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? </body></article> </text>