A court authorized the extinction of the ownership of the assets of Drogas La Rebaja pharmacies, which were one of the great symbols of the Cali Cartel’s empire, one of the largest drug trafficking networks in Colombia. With the second instance decision, by the Superior Court of Bogotá, drugstores will be under state control.
Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, who died in May in a US prison and was the cartel’s top leader, founded the drugstore chain in the 1970s, and it went on to become one of the largest in Colombia. It currently has more than 880 stores, despite the stain due to its origins linked to drug trafficking and other illegal activities, which led it to be on the Clinton List, the US government’s list of people and companies linked to drug trafficking.
After the fall of the Cali Cartel and its leaders, the drugstore chain was left in an administrative limbo that was resolved with the creation of a workers’ cooperative that bought it from the Rodríguez Orejuela family.
To date, Copservir continues to manage the company together with the Sociedade de Bens Especiais (SAE), linked to the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, which manages the assets seized for drug trafficking activities, with which it signed an agreement last year. . Gilberto, along with his brother Miguel, managed dozens of companies with which he laundered money, including La Rebaja, Blanco Pharma and Kressfor Laboratories.
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