Pubdate: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 Source: Guardian Weekly, The (UK) Copyright: Guardian Publications 1999 Contact: 75 Farringdon Road London U.K EC1M 3HQ Fax: 44-171-242-0985 Website: http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/GWeekly/ Page: 3 Author: Tony Thompson COCAINE CARTELS RETURN TO WAR WITH THE STATE The red Mazda sedan had sat outside a restaurant on the main avenue of Bogota's commercial district for at least four hours before it exploded. Razor-sharp shrapnel destroyed nearby buildings and blew out windows half a kilometre away. At first the blast, which killed eight people and injured 45, was thought to be the work of rebels who have waged a guerrilla war in Colombia since the 60s. But it soon emerged the bomb was the work of a group far more feared - the drug cartels. Last month United States officials claimed that they had dealt a heavy blow to the drugs trade when they arrested Fabio Ochoa, a founder of the Medellin cartel. Looking pale and frightened, the 42-year-old playboy sobbed his defiance as he was dragged away by more than 60 special agents: "I am innocent, I swear it on the lives of my children." But those who know Ochoa say it was an act. "He goes back to the most violent of the violent," says Tom Cash, former chief of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). "Violence is his middle name." Arrested with Ochoa were around 30 others, said to be responsible for flooding the US with more than $60bn worth of cocaine each year. The day after the arrest, Colombia's former justice minister, Enrique Parejo, explained: "Drug-traffickers have become used to the fact that the only way to fight the state is with violence. There's a risk they could again resort to the same tactics." Later Ochoa's sister issued a chilling statement calling on the government to honour its promise not to extradite anyone, or it would face the consequences. Rumours that jailed drug kingpins had contributed $9.6m to a secret "war fund" to launch a campaign of violence against the government were everywhere. Last week the widow and son of another founder of the Medellin cartel, Pablo Escobar, were arrested. Victoria Henao, 39, and Juan Pablo Escobar, 22 - said to be worth $1bn - had settled in Argentina with false papers soon after Pablo's death in a shoot-out with police in 1993. Victoria ostensibly ran a clothing shop and Juan worked as an aide to a university professor, but the authorities in Argentina accused them of running a money-laundering gang. Supporters of the cartel have circulated stories of how they plan to return to the "old ways" to fight government attempts to return the pair to Colombia, where they could fall prey to murder or kidnapping. Now Colombians are wondering whether the blast marks a return to the terror of 10 years ago or is a sign of desperation by the gangsters who are losing control of the world's No 1 illicit commodity - cocaine. The drug's rise is almost wholly down to the fortunes of the Ochoa family in the mid-70s. They became rich through horse-dealing, but then an ill-conceived business deal by the corpulent Fabio Ochoa Snr bankrupted the estate. His three sons, Jorge, Juan and Fabio Jr, and their friend Pablo Escobar, had all spent time in the US and, having seen the growing appetite for cocaine, knew the best way to keep the family afloat. What made the Ochoas different was that they dominated every aspect of the trade. When they realised that cocaine, which cost $3,000 a kilo in Colombia, was selling for closer to $40,000 in Miami, they set up their own international smuggling and distribution networks. Demand escalated and so did profits. By the late 80s Fortune magazine listed the family riches at $15bn, and they were said to control one-third of Colombia's wealth. While the rival Cali cartel used bribery, the Medellin cartel resorted to violence. When Colombia introduced the extradition of traffickers, the cartels bombed the government into submission. Extradition was reinstated in 1997, and President Andres Pastrana pledged to resume handovers after his election last year. He responded to the bombing defiantly, signing the extradition papers of alleged Colombian heroin boss Jaime Orlando Lara and others, which clears the way for handover to the US of the first of 42 jailed drug suspects. The president's bravery comes from the knowledge that the Colombian barons no longer have the power they once had. Today the power base is in Mexico, particularly in the border town of Tijuana - 70% of the world's cocaine is now sourced through Mexico. According to Thomas Constantine of the DEA, the Tijuana cartel is "one of the most powerful organised crime syndicates in the world today". Greasing official wheels with silver or lead, they act as "gatekeepers" for 1,500km of frontier and for the world's busiest border crossing. Despite a promise by Mexico of a $400m "total war" on smugglers, US officials said no big traffickers were indicted in Mexico last year. Drug hauls and arrests have all declined. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea