COVER STORY Cocaine Violence Is the Last Straw
SUMMARY: The threat of death, made real by assassinations and bombs, has tipped the scaies In Colombia's cocaine battle. Last summei's murder of a respected presidential contender seemed finally too much, forging public opinion and making the nation's leader talk tough on extradition. In December, authorities gunned down a drug kingpin. The changed mood in Bogota may be behind the cartels' recent claims of retreat, though skeptics call it little but public relations.
Perhapstim ofthethe battlemost famousbetweenvicthe New World's oldest justice system and its most lucra tive industry is Colombia's former justice minister, Monica de Greiff. She now teaches Colombian law at the University of Miami and lives in an elegant if small apartment with a view of the Atlantic De Greiff invokes her son's safety to explain her retreat from the Justice Ministry. shoreline. The view from her balcony is a panorama of white sand beach, rows of De Greiff resigned from the Justice Greiff will not name names, she says, palm trees and Miami's most exclusive Ministry Sept. 21 amid death threats and "These were not veiled threats; they let me apartments. Youalso see a bunch of kiddie warnings from the notoriousMedellin drug know on exactly whose behalf they were seats and a Batman tricycle that belong to cartel that members would kill 10 judges calling." de Greiffs son, Miguel Jose, who is by all for every Colombian extradited to the There are about 4,000 justices, at all accounts doing well in school. He has in United States on dmg charges. Still, she levels, in Colombia. While estmiates vary herited his mother's fair complexion and says, "there's one thing 1 want to make on the number who have been killed since winning smile. He is also the reason the clear; that I did not, as much of the North the battle for the profits of the coca trade justice minister of Colombia is now Rober American press thinks, abandon Colombia exploded into violence in the early 1980s, to Salazar Manrique, not Monica de Greiff. for fear of my own safety. I left because of all have been affected. Jorge Child, who De Greiffs rise to success was spectac threats to my son." covers the drug trade for Bogota's El ^pec- ular. Scion of a famous Medellin family — Although de Greiff says she "will never tador, Colombia's most aggressively anti her great-uncle Leon de Greiff, who died be able to speak about the threats," Colom drug newspaper,says 15 federaljudges and in 1976, was author of "Tergiversaciones," bians say it doesn't take the brain of a 55 in the provinces have been killed. A one ofthe most influential books ofColom Bolivar to piece a reasonable story to leading Colombian diplomat puts the total bian modernist poetry — by her mid-20s, gether. According to Guy Gugliotta and figure at about 100. she was one of Bogota's most respected Jeff Leen, authors of "Kings of Cocaine," And, although there have been no Su lavi^ers. Bytheage of 31 she was minister Justice Alfonso Patino got tape recordings preme Court justices killed since the barons of justice. of his wife's voice on the phone, in which made an offer of peace in mid-Januaiy, the And by the age of 32 she was on the she discussed an upcoming tour. "Maria barons occasionally let you know they are receiving end of what Colombians call Cristina won't be alive to make the trip," a there. Last fail, justices in the Supreme "telephone terrorism"; rather unsubtle re voice continued. More recently, Justice Court building discovered to their dismay minders that some pretty terrible things Alvaro Medina Moreno started receiving that their phones had been tapped for could happen to her son if she did not telephone threats on a secret number that weeks, according to Jorge Carreno Luen- change her mind on certain issues. he bought only his wife knew. While de gas, the Supreme Court president. De
8 INSIGHT/APRIL 2,1990 "It wouldn't be unfair to compare the assassination of Galan to the impact on the United States of the assassination of [John E] Kennedy."
Greiff calls the traffickers "intellectual pled youngman, Lara BonillaangeredEs their generation at one blow." criminals" andsaystheyhavebeen ablenot cobar by accusing him of financing cam The palace was burned to the ground, only to buy information but also to tap into paigns with drug-tainted money and of and wooden barricades still surround the army radio frequencies. While Carreno corrupting businesses, particularly sports wreckage on Plaza Bolivar, Bogota's main does not think narcos are the canny teams, with drug profits. He had shown an square. The court now does its business out businessmen most North Americans do, he absolute willingness to implement the ex of the Banco de Credito building, an un acknowledges that "their communica tradition U^aties and, when that failed, to gainly 23-story brick skyscraper that dou tionsfacilities are absolutely excellent, not confiscate airplanes and other materiel bles as a bank. Toprevent another attack, just in terms of people — espionage, etc. used in the trade. (The judge who devel- all visitors, even regular workers, have to
Rites for Lara Bonilla, a predecessor ofde GreifPs, whose 1984 assassination began thespate ofcartel acts against justice
— but in electronics, radar, wiretapping." oped the case against the cartel in the Lara pass through metal detectors upon enter At the center of the death threats to Bonilla killing was also killed.) ing, at which point they are frisked for justices is Article 8 ofthe bilateral extradi Undaunted, the constitutional division weapons — re^ly frisked, the Bruce Lee tion treaty signed by PresidentsJulio Cesar of the SupremeCourt began to debate the treatment. At every floor, elevator doors Turi)ay Ayala and Jimmy Carter in 1979 treaties. On Nov. 6, 1985, the first day of open to the sight of two Colombian police (when Virgilio Barco Vargas, now pres hearings on the issue, 45 guerrillas from with machine guns trained. ident, was the Colombian ambassador in the Movimiento 19de Abril (M-19) — put After the stormingof the Palaceof Jus Washington) and ratified by the U.S. Sen up to the job by the cartel — drove an tice, the court was decidedly lessenthusias ate in 1981. armored truck into the basement of the tic about pressing its point on extradition. Palace of Justice and held the whole build In 1987, the Supreme Court rejected extra ing for more than a day, taking everyone dition by one vote. Extraditionthe heartsstrikes of drugterror dealers,into inside hostage, systematically executing But another killing, the assassinationof who have generally found justices. During the executions and the en Sen. Luis Carlos Galan Sarmiento, a pres it easy to circumvent, ei suing attack by army forces, almost 100 idential candidate, last Aug. 18, tippedthe ther with money or with people were killed, including the president balanceback. Not only did the spectacle of threats, the Colombian of the Supreme Court, 11 of 24 Supreme the brave politician (whom everyone still justice system. While Co Court justices and all the members of the calls "the most incorruptible person in Co lombians referto them as "the mafia," they constitutional chamber. lombia") being shot down bydrug assassins call themselves "the Extraditables." Lola Sandoval, an administrator who at a rally in Soacha permanently change Pablo Escobar Gaviria, almost certainly was among those held hostage, recalls the North American perceptions of the nature the most powerful of the Medeilin drug event weepily:"It's terrifyingenough to be of the threat in Colombia, it also made barons, threw out the first ball ofthe season heldhostage, gruesome enough to see your Colombians realize that die extradition is in April 1984 when he ordered the ma- friends killed, but almost as bad to think of sue had moved beyond matters of national chine-gunning of de Greiffs predecessor, these people arriving and wiping out the sovereignty and that "things had changed," Rodrigo Lara Bonilla. A recklessly princi- most gentle and accomplished minds of according to one justice.
INSIGHT / APRIL 2. 1990 1
tt Tumiiirminnw—t i^—rTimrii inaoiinrttiinaiiri i i iir i [niBMiiii i ninfffi ^ Survivors (left) of the M-19's dramatic takeover of the Palace of Justice in 1985; in the new building, security is a way of life. The justice, who was a student in the since Barco's emergency decree, until re matter of decentralizing, or federalizing, United States at the time of the assassina cently all low-level operatives. Even one of institutions in recognition of the fact that tion of John E Kennedy, says, "It wouldn't these extraditions bore serious fhiit: that of places like Medellin, Cali and Barranquilla be unfair to compare the assassination of Jose Rafael Abello Silva, who was shipped were no longer one-burro towns that could Galan to the impacton the United States of to Tulsa, Okla., in October. Because of his be ruled by fiat from Bogota. Decentraliza the assassination of Kennedy." absence, Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha tion still looms as a big issue, certainly the had to personally supervise the loadingof largest one in the upcoming mayoral and alan's ghost may be as a cocaine ship from Magdalena. Hushed 'national elections, which are going from powerful as his pres out of his sanctuary,he provedmuch easier now through May. "The Supreme Court," ence. Thousands came prey when the Colombian authorities went says de Greiff, "is the only significant na to a memorial service in looking for him. In late February, though, tional institution that has not been decen Bogota's Central Cem the govemment bagged two high-level op tralized." etery six months to the erators. As a result, the cartel declared De Greiff says she thinks this is not the day after his death. At a itself in a state of "maximum alert." only problem. I%r one, judges do not enjoy recent bullfight in the Candelaria ring in Those opposing extradition have been the same prestige that they do in Nortfi Bogota, one liberal senatorial candidate labeled, both here and in the United States, America. "In the United States, you need who is running in the same round of elec as soft on drugs. Beyond question, many to go to a university, then to a distinguished tions that would undoubtedly have seen Colombian judges and politicians have law school, then accumulate a record of Galan elected president May 27 hired a been corrupted by the trade, but in many service as a lawyer, before you can become band to play songs extolling him. People cases, including Betancur's, it is easy to were carrying posters and placards reading mistake patriotism for pandering. "This is jSiempre con Galan! ("Always with Ga a five-pronged issue," says a senior Barco lan!"). And recently, when Gloria Cuervo associate. "Andit's very hard to make sense de Piedrahita, a 35-year-old lawyer, de of. There are patriots in Colombia who cided to run for mayor of Medellin, she legitimately argue that the country should peppered her kickoff speech with ref have its own system of justice working erences to him everytwo sentences. So did effectively. On the other hand, there are a candidate in die Medellin senatorial race, narco lawyers in Miami who are arguing Ivan Marulanda Velez. exactly the same thing." De Greiff Ainks The murder of Galan galvanized Pres the patriotism issue can often be used as a ident Barco's govemment, under broad blind as well. "The narcos like to portray "state of siege" emergency powers, to re this as being some sort of cession of power new the extradition process. Says de to the United States. But our position on Greiff, "It wasn't even a political issue. At extradition has always been clearly that it the time, we just asked ourselves, 'What applies to all countries with which we have can we do?' We stayed up all night and treaties: Spain, Canada, wherever." issued six emergency declarations." They Another issue dividing Colombians included a suspension of habeas corpus of over drug enforcement is regional rivalry, up to one week for suspected drug dealers die intensity of which is hard to overstate and the establishment of a special team of — there are soccer rivalries in Colombia judges to investigate drug cases. This is that rival those of Liverpool and Everton. almost exactly what Barco's predecessor, In Bogota they drink scotch, in Medellin populist conservative Belisario Betancur and Cali aguardiente (an aqua vitae), in Cuaitas, did on the night of the Lara Barranquilla mm. In the city of Mompos Bonilla killing, when, after consulting with they play guitar ballads and harps; in the his Cabinet ministers, he abruptly reversed city of Cartagena they play salsa. his antiextradition position. According to de Greiff, major constitu Sixteen persons have been extradited tional reforms in 1968 were basically a Carreno found justices' phones tapped.
10 INSIGHT / APRIL 2,1990 A Justice System Undeff bpHi# Unlglpili
Colombo's justice system is an tutional privilege broadly; inoFebnil^i liave inilitepdbag^st;^^ jto usual one to North American Its he stated: "The govenmient does not ihe^pdllcfes,, ibujty in iighf ;of
a judge. In Colombia, it's something you the wake of a spateof killings ofjudges. United States' entry in the Marlboro Cup can do when you graduate from college." Col. ValdemarFranklin Quintero, who event in Miami, in a match that Colombia Moneyis also lacking. Salariesare not low headed the Antioquia police department, won 10-9 on penalties, television an byColombian standards, buttheyarequite had offered up his government-provided nouncers LuisAl&edo CespedesandHum- low by the county's professional stan bodyguards as a gesture of solidarity with bertoSalcedoJr. wereconstantly cracking dards, and there is insufficientfunding for the striking judges. American jokes. 'This is an interesting such things as computers, facsimile ma North American team." chinesand, sadly, security. hat aftemoon, as the colo "Yes, very, uh — very, uh — rustic," While major figures, like the justice nel left his driveway, his "Therearea lotof things thegringosdo minister and the head of the Supreme car was stopped by a gang well, Humberto, but I'm afiaid elJutbol is Court, receive extraordinary protection — of sicarios, as Colom not one of them." sometimes mcluding heavily armed con biansreferto the drug bar Nor is fighting the war on drugs, ac voys and armored cars with windows that ons' hired assassins, who cording to many. can withstand the force ofan M-30 missile put about 200 bullets into When President George Bush an — security is lax for lesser judges. The him. nounced in late August that he would help resources are simply not there to guard Giventhe threatth^ fece, manyin Co Colombia "fight its war on dmgs," the them: It would be like guarding all the lombia wony about the seriousness ofthe United States sent Vietnam-era bulle^roof dentists in Cleveland. On the day Galan U.S. commitment. There is no inherent vests for judges, which, according to one was murdered, the justices in Medellin aweor respect for the United States there. official from Colombia's Administrative wereon strike, protestingsecuritygaps in When Colombia's soccer team played the Departmentof Security, "would sink a
INSIGHT/APRIL 2, 1990 11 A Countiy Caught in a Stranglehold
By any account, Colombia is a vio ofa round ofdrinks. .. You can widow ministrative Security, the police, the in lentcountry. Nationally, homicideisthe a woman for less than it costs to have vestigative branch of the judiciary — leading cause of death for men age 15 her." have almost no suspects in the mas to 45. About one in every 1,000 Colom There is a legislated minimum wage sacres from the past yearand a half, and bians died a violent death in 1989: that here, which is strictly enforced, but it no one at all has been prosecuted. comes to 20,000 killings. 2,200 of them comes to 42,500 pesos a month — That is because no one knows who politically motivated. about $21.70 a week at current ex is carrying out the killings. Although In 1948, the killing of Liberal leader change rates. the murdered all seem to have ties to Jorge Eliecer Gaitan sparked a fracas Bogoianos are beginning to worry narcotics trafficking, they are a random that left 8,000 dead in three days and is that even the drug barons are losing lot: emerald dealers, drug barons, juve known among Colombians as el Bogo- control of their cadres. Systematic mas nile delinquents, policemen, terrorists, tazo. This is a coinage from Colombian sacres—eyes gouged out, hands bound laborers, farmers and the unidentified. Spanish, with overtones of golpazo, or lopped off, decapitations, bodies in The leastexotic possibility that has been put forward is that the massacres are vengeance killings betweenrival groups of drug barons and emerald dealers, that often covet the same patches of turf in the wilds ofthe coun^side. Gen. Carlos Arturo Casadiego Tor- rado, director of the national police, who has been put in charge of inves tigating the slayings, is worried that Lifucol, which issued the death threats to the soccer team, maybe involved; but this is a suspicious group, and no one knows quite what they are after. Several of Colombia's soccer teams — particu larly Cali's America, Medellin's Na- cional and Bogota's Millonarios — have been heavily financed by the drug barons. One theory has it that Lifucol is com posed of disgruntled bettors who were Assassinations are the outcome of battles over rights to cocaine industry. closely connected to the drug barons and were betrayed by them on a few or "hit," but a decent translation might garbagebags— are nothingnewto the fixed games. be "that crazy Bogota thing." drug wars. There were 19 of them last Another holds that extreme-right The most recent national tragedy year, leaving 118 dead, according to elements are applying to all associates came about when Francisco Maturana, reporters for Hoy por Hoy, one of of narcoterrorists the example of Bra the captain of Colombia's World Cup Bogota's leading newsweeldies. This zil's dreaded Black Hand, an organi soccer team, dissolvedthe squad indefi January, however, there were dozens of zation that treats the epidemic of Sao nitelyafter death threatsto himselfand massacres in Bogota alone. And the Paulo's marauding, homeless street other players by a group called Lifucol killings continued apace as February children by applying the fascist equiva (Limpieza del Futbol Colombiano, or wore on: nine emerald prospectors lent of a "duck test"; If it looks like an Cleanup of Colombian Soccer). As killed in the Cordillera Centi^, six drug orphan, quacks like an orphan and would be the case in much of the rest of traffickers killed in drug baron Pablo walks like an orphan, shoot it. South America, dissolving the national Escobar's hometown of Envigado, to Still another possibility is that with soccer team has caused only slightly name just two of the more publicized the generals in the drug war either in less misery than dissolving the nation^ massacres. prison (Carlos Lehder Rivas), in hiding bank. The peculiarthingaboutthis rash of (Pablo Escobar Gaviria and Jorge Luis According to Orlando Faez, a taxi killings is that nobody is talking. Usu Ochoa Vasquez),loweringtheir levelof driver who plies his trade between the ally when people are violently killed, activity (Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela) international airport and the Hotel even in Colombia, families and loved or dead (Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Tequendama, the going rate fora hit on ones come out to demand justice. About Gacha), the privates have not only a minor underworld figure is 10,000 these dozens of massacres, however, maintained hope but have actually mu Colombian pesos. 'To put this in per there has been what Hoy por Hoy calls tinied and sought a foothold. The small spective," says Paez, "a small drink in "a sepulchral silence." time dealers of Bogota simply may be a tourist bar runs 2,500 pesos ... and Some families have not even shown vying for drug power in a less sophisti youcan get a prostitute herefor 18,000. up to claim their dead. Colombian cated, less organized and more violent So youcan widowa woman tor the price authorities — the Department of Ad way. I
12 INSIGHT / APRIL 2.1990 Cocaine a Country North America Barranqullla Atlantic Cartagena Ocean
Caribbean Pacific Ocean cow." Discussing the first Bush drug plan, MompoS;^ Enlaced one Barco associatesays, 'They don't seem Area South to realize the seriousness of the problem — PANAMAV OTurbo ^ S65million inaidisa dropinthebucket" America
VENEZUELA Themaycritics haveof agringo point.actions (One QAsanare Medellin.
prohibitivetariffs on cut flowersin tfiepast \ s t''^ year, thereby encouraging Colombians to \ ® engage in coca growing. Child and Mario ECUADOR Arango, also ajoumalist for El Espectador, describe the economies of Colombia. Bo livia and Peru as "narco-dependent." This PERU is true of Bolivia for soil reasons and of I V e r Peru for political ones, but Colombia is a country that brings to mind British indus R i V trialist Nigel Beaumont's description of his az 0 n native Rhodesia: "the kind of place where you drop a seed and it sprouts a supermar- tet." a London conference of coffee importers drops in price, meaning that what sold for Colombia exports flowers, meat, cot last July 4 rankles the nation. According to $1.50 a pound eight monthsago now sells ton, leather, emeralds and — most impor OrlandoCano, a writerforleadingbusiness for 80 cents. tant— oil. But coffee is the nation's pride, dailyLa Republicaand perhaps thenation's "It's our nation's lifeblood and a very and the decision of the United States to top coffee expert, the sudden decision to important weapon in this war," says Cano. remove systematic quotas from Colombian drop the quotas sent prices into a tailspin. "It's true that most of the coca comes from coffee— favoring smallerproducers — at Resultant overharvesting led to fuller Peru and Bolivia, but it's narrow-minded
Galan's popularity, even in death, has ralliedsentiment (left); Franklin Quintero'sdemise came after he backed justices.
INSIGHT / APRIL 2. 1990 13 The drug barons "made a big mistake by extending their killing of judges and journalists and presidential candidates to ordinary Colombians."
In February, Bushmet Barco (standing at table) in Cartagena for a drug summit. Many citizens still doubt U.S. intentions. to focus onlyon thecropsubstitution issue. events have unfolded in Colombia tliat have Pacho, according to de Greiff, and har This struggleis being wagedon economic changed the faceof the drug war. Although bored political ambitions. He used bribe as well as agricultural grounds." there is universal respect among all politi money in last autumn's elections to ensure One thing the United Slates has in its cal parties forthe U.S. president's willing the seating of five hand-picked candidates favor in gainingColombian cooperation in ness to "walk into the jaws of the wolf," as to the House of Representatives from the the drug war is that, however corruptible one Sunday paper put it, it's not that the Magdalena River Valley area. And it was theirpolitical and legal establishmentshave president's decision to make a lightning Lara Bonilla's investigation of the system prov^, Colombians take immense pride in visit has made Colombians any more con atic corruption of elected representatives by describing themselves as the most conser fident about the seriousness of American vativecountry in Latin America. intentions — political, military or eco Chemicals are added to coca leaves to nomic — in the war on drugs ("You get form a paste in the making of basuco. rhetoric; we get corpses," says one televi RomanriousCatholicismforce; Guatemalais ase sion anchorman). It's not that Peru's presi and Honduras are about dent, Alan Garcia Perez, after much one-quarter Pentecostal equivocationand numerous attempts to use now, and, in Colombia, the U.S. invasionof Panama to gain politi where Pentecostal mis- cal mileage, agreed finally to attend after . sionaries have been just about six changes of mind (noticing that as hard at work, they have made hardly a nobody particularly cared whether he at dent. Bullfighting is as popular there as tended); it's that, in the face of killings of soccer; the nation is not a haven for animal justicesandjournalists and, more recently, rights activists or the Green movement. ordinary citizens by the hundred, Colom The conservatism stretches to politics; it is bians are beginning to tire of the industry a country where, if you are a lousy driver that many of them, at all levels of society, and you cut someone off in Cali or Mede- have turned a blind eye to for years. llin, the guy is as likely to call you "a Overthepastsix months, afterdeclaring communist bastard" as to say something "total war" on the extradition treaties, the nasty about your mother, as would be the drug barons (in Colombia they are called case in, say, Mexico (not that you are ad "barons," never "lords") have made a num vised to make mention of another person's ber of miscalculations which show that they mother in Colombia). Unlike in Mexico, utterly misunderstand the people they wish though, there is no institutionalized anti- to rule. Yes, mle: Lehder was a lover of Americanism. Hitler, Escobar an alternate congressman Since President Bush's reuim from the for his hometown of Envigado. Rodriguez drug summit in Cartagena in Febmary, Gacha was"considered a god" in his native
14 Colombia's Own Crack Problem drug baronsthat ultimately led to hisassas Colombianscling to the myth that number of different industrial chem sination. North Americans' strange predilec icals to form coca paste. After the The first of three spectacular mistakes tionforcocaineis the keyto theirown cocaine is filtered off, the remaining came with the killing of Galan Aug. 18. national crisis, and, to be sure, most sludge contains traces of base co Not only did it drive Barco, de Greiff and of the stuff produced in Colombia is caine, along witha toxic potpourri of other Cabinet ministers to the position not for domestic consumption. But kenasene, turps, methyl alcohol and where they could do nothingelse but play that is to ignore a recent study by the several volatile esters. This is basuco. hardball,it also strengthened the resolve of Bogota mayor's office of social wel It sells for 200 pesos (about 45 cents) North Americans by showing millions of fare, which shows addiction levels re a hit, whichusersrollintocigarettes. them on prime-time news just how effec sembling those of the United States. Pemvians and Bolivians refer to it tively drug henchmen can wield a .45- According to the study, 500,000 as pitillo (joint), and it is a growing caliber Ingram MAC-10 pistol, which is Bogotanos — about one-tenth of the problem in their nations as well. The pretty well. population — are addicted to basuco, U.S. State Department has been llie mistake was only consolidated a smokable form of cocaine that in studying Bolivian drug use for a little when the dmg barons blew an Avianca727 some ways resembles crack. While over a year, and, while no hard num out of the air three minutes after it left crackis almost certainly a product of bers are available. State Department Bogota for Cali Nov. 27, killing 107 per Yankee ingenuity (if it were Colom official Kirk Kotula says, "It's a huge sons. An anonymous telephone callerwho bian, the dmg barons would find it problem, and it's growing. What saidhe spoke for the dmg barons said the cheaper to transport cocaine in crack shocked us most was to see the level object of the act was to "eliminate five rats" form, saysjournalistJorgeChildof El of addiction among I0-, I2-year-oIds. on board. The other passengers were sim Espectador), basuco is a Medellin- Many cocaine pr(^ucers are foment ply ordinary Colombians who had run out cartel invention. It was introduced to ing the addiction by paying their la of luck. thestreetpeople of Bogota andMede- borers in basuco instead of cash." Butittookthebombing oftheheadquar llin in Febmary 1983— beforethere Even at the highest levels of die ters of the Administrative Department of was any crack in the States. justice system, a tendency exists to Security, orDAS, Colombia's equivalent of Basuco is to the cocaine addict blame Americans exclusively. "If you theFBI, toconsolidate Colombian opinion what mbbing alcohol is to the alco want to help us out of this terrible that the mafia had gone far enough. For holic. Deadly though it may ulti mess," says Supreme Court President weeks the barons had timed the regular mately be, at least crack is high- Jorge Carreno Luengas, "you can re movementof the feistyand outspokensecu ^de coke; basuco is absolutely ter duce the demand forcocaine in your rity director. Gen. Miguel MazaMarquez, rible stuff. To separate the cocaine own country." Asked if he thinks Co who hasrun several successful sting oper alkaloid from coca leaves, manufac lombia's consumption problem is of ations on the cartel and has been cannier turers mix the crushed leaves with a similarmagnitude, he says, "No." I thanhispredecessors ininfiltrating thecar tel with informants. The truck bomb that they set off was by some estimates the largest one ever planted, larger even dian barracks in Beimt in 1983. berations were philosophical as well as the one that demolished the U.S. Marine In the early morning of Dec. 6, the seismic; as the buildings fell, so did a Co bomb blew a 30-foot-deep crater in the lombian myth, which much resembles an middle of Carrera 30, killed 63persons and American one: that the mafia kill only maimed another thousand. Haditgoneoff among themselves. "Theymade a bigmis anhourlater, when alltheemployees would take," says thebusinessman, "byextending have arrived at thedepartment andthesur their killing of judges and journalists and rounding businesses, it is possible that presidential candidates to ordinary Colom thousands would have been killed; as it bians." began torealize that they happened, most of the people killed were were not immune if they assisted the dmg cleaning ladies, night watchmen and early- barons, even if they turned a blind eye. risingpedestrians. MazaMarquez, whofor The DASlostpatience. On Dec. 15,the some reason broke his routine and stayed Colombian national police, aided by the in his ninth-floor armored office that day, DAS,Interpol, the CIA and a crack British escaped unharmed. team of tacticians from MI6 and Scodand The blast wasintense. It knocked ciga Yard, ambushed drug kingpin Rodriguez rettevendors off theirfeet a half-mile away. Gacha at his hideout near Tolu. Notes de It toppled several office blocks, damaged Greiff, 'These are not the kind of people 1,500 stmctures in all and cracked admin you can bring in by putting five policemen istrative buildings a mileaway. It blew out in a squad car and saying, 'Go get 'em.' " the plate glass windows in die Hotel And, indeed, this was a major military Tequendama five miles away. According to operation, usinggunships and armoredas oneColombian businessman whowasstay sault vehicles to blow away 15 of Rodri ing on the fourth floor of the hotel at the guezGacha's bodyguards. Widespread re time, "Myfirst thought was, 'We're having ports that Rodriguez Gacha was not killed a goddamn earthquake.' " But the rever but committed suicide by exploding a
15 r?Sv 2W.'': five to 10 times the capacity of Tranquilan- dia, an island refinery on the Yari River raided in 1984, which had been the largest bust to date. By late February the Ex traditableshad issued another communique asking the govemment to delineate terms under which they could tum themselves in and offering to provide a complete inven tory of their capital and assets. The U.S. State Department believes that they have hired a major public relations firm to or chestrate their campaign. Despite the largess, the cartel has made no explicit promises to dismantle its busi ness. Many Colombians are extremely op timistic about the prospects, but others are more skeptical. Since 1984, when they met secretly with Attorney General Carlos The Avianca explosion Nov. 27 deepened public distress over drug-tied violence. Jimenez Gomez several times, the barons have tried to cut deals with the govemment handgrenadein front of his own faceare a official. And de Greiff agrees that the kill on extradition, never sincerely and never to machomyth perpetuated by his associates, ingsenta noteof encouragement to Colom any effect. "That's because their offers were as DAS photos showing him riddled with bians. "It taught us that hs Extraditables always paired with threats," says a lower- 9nim bullets make abundantly clear.On the are not las Invinciblesy (Colombians, and levelBogota judge. "Now it's they who are last day of December, authorities nearly the drug barons in particular, like to refer on the ran." Another adds, "This is the first comered Escobar at one of his hideouts. to themselves in terms of what can be done offer they've made that has more carrot in But someone had tipped him off, and he to them; when members of drug families it than stick." escaped by a matter of minutes. were getting kidnapped they signed their On the 23rd floor of the Banco de communiques "/oj SecuestrablesT) Credito building, there are four heavily Emboldened by developments, a group armed police guards: This is the office of Escobarbaron ismostprobablyin controlthe drugof of prominent Colombians — among them Jorge Carreno Luengas, the penal lawyer die operation, but Rodri former Presidents Turbay Ayala, Alfonso who is president of the Supreme Court. He guez Gacha was the grand LopezMichelsen andMisael PastranaBor- soldier, the terrorist tacti rero; Patriotic Union leader Diego Montana A policeman takes fingerprints from cian. As the only Bogota- Cuellar; Cardinal Mario Revollo of Bogota; R(^iguez Gacha's corpse. no among the handful of and several entrepreneurs and industriSists topdealerswhocomposethe Medellin car — issued a public appeal for the cessation tel, he knewthe city intimately — whohad of the drug trade. In response, the Extra to bedone in and where theylived, and who ditables issued a statement in which they the peopleto do thejob were. Justicesand offered to surrender arms, laboratories and journalistscertainly breathe a lot easier in equipment. The statement began with an thewakeofhis departure. Accordingto one admissionthat the govemment had won the associate, his niclmame. El Mexicano, was drug war, and it ended on a plaintive note: due not so much to his love of such Mexi "We only want to be allowedto go back to can things as Mayan art and mariachi mu our families." sic, but rather to an affinity for snuffmovies The Barco govemment seems to think and the torture tactics ofthe Mexican mafia the time for dealing is over, but the dmg ,7.h. '• of the 1930s. 'This guy was completely barons rapidly began to make concessions. crazy," says a bartender on Bogota's flashy Within days theyturnedoverto authorities Cairera 7. "In the United States, you're a helicopterand a bus filled with 2 tons of writing about Noriega, with his santeria explosives.They released severalhostages, and his voodoo and his whores and his love including Alvaro Diego Montoya, son of for Hitler. This guy makes Noriega look Secretary-GeneralGerman Montoya. like a member of the Catholic YouthOrga Then, on Valentine's Day,the day before nization." Carlos Lemos Simmonds, Bar- President Bush arrivedat the drug summit, co's ministerofgovemment, has no qualms they took two dozen Colombian reporters about calling him a psychopath. on a tour of three cocaine laboratories run Colombians are suddenly feelingconfi by the Ochoa family near the Panamanian dent that the other dmg barons will be border — in Cartagena, La Dorada and eliminated, albeit slowly. "Escobar knows Santa Marta — which among them have that what happened to Rodriguez Gacha the capacity to manufacture 250 tons of will happen to him," says a senior Barco cocaine a year. As a single seizure, this is
16 INSIGHT / APRIL 2.1990 ifiji fl'QI it'tTt.t jil f Pf --«sa Hlf m"- m is a polite but not effusive man. His office JSTgm 1^ is ftimished Spartanly, with a few law texts, m a Colombian flag and a crucifix about 3 feet high. "This year, thankfully, the pressure has calmed, and I hope we are on a pathway of peace. Peace is fundamental; its a pre condition of social development," he says, with the air of one who wonders what it would be like. Speaking of the narcos and remembering the carnage that resulted from Betancur's desire to play hardball with those who occupied the Palace of Justice, he tliinks one can never say no to negotiations, but he says, "I have no abso lute confidence in their offers."
Theretion.areA recentreasonsdeclarationfor cau by President Barco that he The bombing of DAS headquarters Dec. 6 sent shock waves that altered the fight. wouldproceed to extradite two mid-level drug lords giving up as much as 40 percent of produc credence to the theory that the European captured on the last day of tivecapacity.DAShad raided another huge trade is a burgeoning one forthe cartel. Yet, ftbruary led the cartel to refinery in the Yari Valley the week before, Maza Marquez agrees that the traffickers announce a state of maximum alert. Ex and Maza Marquez quipped, "If they were are still in the country. "We're going to actly what this means is unclear, but it serious, why didn't they give that one up capture Escobar," he says. "If we haven't would be highly surprising if it did not too?" already, it's because Medellin is a city of 2 involve killings. A recent bust at a cartel There are three possibilities, none of million people, and he's always moving." safe house in Cali uncovered 1 ton ofheroin them heartening. One is that cocaine pro Further, the cartels seem to be fighting paste, leading to speculation that the cartel duction is vastly above the 600 tons per among themselves. Gilberto Rodriguez is merely diversifying or expanding. Fur annum previously assumed as a maximum. Orejuela, who heads the Cali cartel, fire- thermore, estimates of the cartel's annual Another is that the cartel has newer, more bombed the Monaco building, one of Es production range from 350 to 600 tons. modem labs that make the three surren cobar's homes, with the aid of British mer Even at the higher estimate (the Drug En dered obsolete; with such high profit mar cenaries in 1987. Since then, he has forcement Administration's highest), the gins, leavingbehind raw materialsand ma stepped up his effort to drive fecobar's surrender of the labs could have involved chinery is a paltry price for a major prop gang — known as los Pablos in Medellin aganda victory. Another is that someone but merely as la Bandera in New York— •r tippedoff the cartel that the labs were"hot" out of the New York City market. North — that they were either about to be raided America's largest. By some accounts, he byDASor had been foundout bythe DEA. has been quite successful, and political "I don't take this very seriously," says a commentators in Colombia agree that it is State Department official. "First, the raw now difficult to tell which is more pow materials aren't worth that much to the erful: the Medellin cartel or the Cali cartel. dealers. Cocaine is. How much actual co The continuing war between the cartels caine did they find at those labs? Almost could be a good thing, if it weakens both. none. Second, those refineries were within It could, however, be a cause for false op 50 miles of the Panamanian border, which timism if Rodriguez Orejuela does not con is not the kind of place the traffickerswant sider himself one of the Extraditables and to be anymore." refuses to go along with any surrender The U.S invasion of Panama has cer plans Escobar has for his group. tainly added to the drug barons' woes, de No one is under the illusion that the war priving them not merely of a money laun is over. But with hopes raised at the drug dering center but also of a safe haven in the summit for decreased Americanconsump face of growing Colombian government tion and increased economic aid, and a resolve. DeGreiffthinks the major traffick sense that going along with the traffickers ers at large are still in Colombia. "There will not guarantee anyone safety anyway, are not a lot of places that would take them more people are beginning to tate sides. now," she says. Maza Marquez worriesthat "In Bogota," says a senior Colombian dip the traffickersmay be setting up operations lomat, "you'll see somethingthat willdefy in Spain, and the discovery of 3 tons of all your prejudices and preconceptions cocaine by authorities in Rotterdam, the about the Colombian war on drugs." What, Netheriands, in early March — the largest precisely? "We're winning." such seizure in Europe's history — gives — Christopher Caldwell in Bogota
INSIGHT / APRIL 2. 1990 17 NATION
An Hour of Service Tomorrow for One Given Freely Ibday
SUMMARY: Service credits are pita! visits to a woman who broke her leg, doctor,"says Irma Emery, project manager becoming popular among elderly and by visiting and cooking daily for an of Friend-to-Friend, which is sponsored by volunteers, hospitals and service other woman who had a heart attack and South Shore Hospital in Miami Beach and agencies. Care givers receive was bedridden. is the largest timedollar program under the '*tlmedollars," to be redeemed Each hour of her service earns a crcdit Johnson Foundation grants. "Fifty percent when they need services. Experts that she can redeem for an hour of services of our service recipients live alone," says say the programs lift spirits for she needs. She has spent some of her cred Emery. "Forty-five to 50 percent of them care givers and receivers, foster its to receive friendly visits, to have her are homebound. communal spirit and cut costs for oven cleaned and, since she does not drive, "South Shore Hospital got involvedbe sponsoring groups, some of which to get rides to buy groceries. "That's the cause we saw the same old people being are expanding the system to most important," she says. Jones can also admitted again and again because they include the young and poor. bank her credits and use them when illness weren't getting what they needed at home," or advancing age makes it hard for her to says Emery. care for herself. When she cashes them in, "It's a cycle. The [insurancecompanies] other participants in her service credit pro want people out of the hospital quickly. So gram, the Older Volunteer Service Bank in they are in five days. They go home, they St, Louis, will help her whileearning time- are incapacitated and all the food in their dollars for themselves. refrigerator has spoiled. But they are too Credits are tracked on a computer sys sick to get out, so they don't eat, they get tem belonging to the sponsor, which llnds malnourished and dehydrated and have to and matches volunteers to fulfill service be rehospitalized. They need support after credit purchases. Jones figures that she hospitalization," and this is provided at no earns five to 10 hours or more of credits per cost to them by a service credit volunteer month, spends about four of those and system. banks the rest. "This has really worked Such a program also gives direct bene because 1 can give services and get ser fits to sponsors. When hospitals discharge vices. When your health fails, you can get patients before mandated deadlines, they help," she says. "I'm glad to have some in receive cash bonuses from Medicare. The the bank. 1 was in the hospital last week." For the past four years, about a dozen programs around the country with an es timated 5,000 participants have been ex perimenting withtimedollarsystems fund ed by grants from foundations, charities and state and local govemments. Spon sored by hospitals, senior citizen centers, community centers and similar agencies, these programs have been aimed at the elderly because "there are limits to what a formalized system can do," says Hunter L. McKay of the Center on Aging at the Uni versity of Maryland. "Going shopping, taking someone out — Medicaid and Medicare will not help. Jones helps fill out medical forms. Cutting the lawn. Many seniors worry about upkeep on their house. They can't ror two years Cora Jones has been afford to pay for it, and there's no way to earning, spending and banking a get an insurance plan to cover this," says new kind of currency that sounds McKay, who helps administer a $1.2 mil like it belongs in science fiction: time- lion grant from the Robert Wood Johnson dollars. Foundation, which since 1987 has funded Jones, 69, earns her timedollars, also the start-up of service credit programs in called volunteer service credits, by render St. Lxjuis, Miami, Boston, Brooklyn, San ing aid to other elderly people. She helps Francisco and Washington. illiterate senior citizens fill out forms to "The largest number of hours of volun obtain government aid, cooks and does teer work are for companionship — visit light housekeeping and "friendly visiting." ing, spending time. They do a lot of shop She has also earned credits by making hos- ping, housekeeping, talang people to the
18 INSIGHT/APRIL 2, 1990