Dairo Antonio Úsuga, alias ‘Otoniel’, the top boss of the Clan del Golfo, a narco-paramilitary organization and currently the most powerful armed group in Colombia, pleaded not guilty to US justice on Thursday. On Wednesday, May 4, the Colombian authorities gave the green light for his extradition to the United States, the country that accuses him of drug trafficking crimes and of being “one of the most dangerous capos in the world.”
“Not guilty”. This is how the head of the criminal structure of the Clan del Golfo, a paramilitary group and, currently, the most extensive drug trafficking network in Colombia, declared this Thursday before the US justice system.
Dairo Antonio Úsuga, better known as ‘Otoniel’, was extradited yesterday to New York from Colombia after the Council of State, the highest contentious administrative court in the Andean country, lifted a precautionary measure that was granted last week to organizations of victims of the department of Chocó, in western Colombia, who requested that the capo not be extradited yet so that he could answer for his crimes before the justice of his country.
According to the formal accusation against him, ‘Otoniel’ faces three charges before the US justice system; however, this Thursday, during the hearing, New York judge Vera Scanlon pointed out that these would become two: continuously leading a criminal organization and participating in an international criminal enterprise to produce and traffic cocaine.
If ‘Otoniel’ is found guilty only on the first charge, the sentence would already be life imprisonment.
This Thursday, the Colombian capo testified before Judge Scanlon. Wearing the usual orange prison uniform and without handcuffs, ‘Otoniel’ responded to the judge’s questions and pleaded not guilty at a hearing in which his lawyer, Arturo Hernández, waived his request for bail. client while the trial begins.
Scanlon ordered that the leader of the Clan del Golfo remain in prison for his “significant drug trafficking activity” and “significant activity with violence.”
The defendant’s defense requested that the process, whose next hearing will take place on June 2, be by jury.
At the exit of the hearing this Thursday, Hernández commented: “I like to have the opportunity to speak with my client, because in Colombia they did not allow me.” The lawyer denounced that since the arrest of ‘Otoniel’ on October 24 until his extradition on Wednesday, he had not been able to meet with his client.
The investigations of the United States against ‘Otoniel’
Dairo Antonio Úsuga is accused of “leading a continuing criminal enterprise” between 2003 and October 2021, when he was arrested by Colombian authorities, and of “participating in an international conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine, knowingly and with the intent that the drugs would be illegally imported into the United States.”
An hour before the hearing this Thursday, which started after 3:15 p.m. on the US East Coast, the US government, through the federal prosecutor for the district of New York, Breon Peace, announced via a conference call press the charges against ‘Otoniel’, whom he considers one of the “most dangerous” capos in the world.
According to what was transferred by the prosecutor, ‘Otoniel’ is responsible for trafficking huge amounts of cocaine to US soil. In addition, he is accused of hiring multiple hitmen to torture, kidnap and murder his victims, among whom are Colombian police and military.
According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the Clan del Golfo is one of the largest cocaine distributors in the world; a criminal organization that came to have more than 6,000 members in its ranks.
“Úsuga David had more employees than the Boston and Miami police departments combined,” Peace added at a press conference.
The framework of the Gulf Clan
The Gulf Clan, according to investigations by US authorities, exercises control over large parcels of territory in the Urabá region, in the department of Antioquia, whose capital is Medellín.
That region is one of the most prosperous areas for drug trafficking due to its proximity to the border between Colombia and Panama as well as the Caribbean and Pacific coasts, according to the investigations carried out by the United States.
Dressed in military uniforms, members of the Clan del Golfo employ military tactics and weapons to bolster their power and incite war and violence against rival drug traffickers, paramilitary organizations, and law enforcement authorities in Colombia. Department of Justice of the North American country.
According to the New York Prosecutor’s Office, the criminal organization led by ‘Otoniel’ pays for a large part of its operations through drug trafficking. It also imposes a “tax” on other drug traffickers transiting the territory they control, charging a set rate for each kilogram of cocaine transported, stored, or manufactured through areas under the Clan’s control.
In addition to this particular customs of illegal traffic, the Clan del Golfo also exports its own cocaine, according to US authorities.
On Wednesday, during his extradition process, “Otoniel” was described by senior US Department of Justice officials as the leader of the “most powerful” paramilitary and drug trafficking group in Colombia.
Daniel Rendón-Herrera, who was also head of the Clan del Golfo before ‘Otoniel’, is also being held by US justice. Rendón-Herrera pleaded guilty to drug trafficking last November 2021 in Brooklyn (New York), and his sentencing is expected next November.
The words of ‘Otoniel’ before the JEP
The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), the transitional justice mechanism in charge of shedding light on the remains of the armed conflict in Colombia, announced last week that Dario Antonio Úsuga, in his statement before the court in the framework of the case of ‘false positives’, mentioned in his statement at least 64 personalities who would be involved in his drug trafficking businesses.
The list, revealed in an order by the Chamber for the Recognition of Truth and Responsibility and for the Determination of Facts and Conduct, was sent to the Supreme Court of Justice, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Colombian Attorney General’s Office to trace possible links and develop an investigation into the mentioned by the boss.
Among the people pointed out by ‘Otoniel’ is the presidential candidate Luis Pérez, former mayor of Medellín and former governor of the department of Antioquia. But there are also senators, members of the security forces, businessmen and even two Colombian universities.
On Wednesday, after learning of the green light from the Colombian Council of State for the extradition of the head of the Clan del Golfo to the United States, numerous personalities, opinion leaders and politicians opposed to the government of conservative Iván Duque, questioned the speed with which The departure of ‘Otoniel’ had been processed to be accountable to the US justice before the Colombian one.
Minister Molano affirms that alias ‘Otoniel’ had become a “national security problem.” It had actually become a security problem for his political and military associates.
– Iván Cepeda Castro (@IvanCepedaCast) May 5, 2022
President Duque assured, however, that although Úsuga is in the United States, he must continue to collaborate with the Colombian justice system in the investigations opened against him, and that when he completes his sentences for drug trafficking, he must return to “Colombia to pay for the crimes he committed. ”.
Pending the sentence, if ‘Otoniel’ is sentenced to life in prison in the US, the president’s plans cannot be fulfilled.
Armed strike after extradition
After the extradition of ‘Otoniel’ became effective, on Wednesday night the Clan del Golfo decreed an armed strike to show its disagreement with the justice’s decision.
The reprisals of the criminal organization were present this Thursday in several Colombian departments such as Antioquia, Córdoba, Bolívar and Sucre. Those affected by the armed strike would be merchants, civil society and drivers, who during Wednesday night and today, Thursday, reported threats at different points in their territories.
The alerts began on Wednesday night, specifically when a large tonnage truck crossed the road that connects the city of Medellín (Antioquia) with the Colombian Atlantic coast, to the north. Information collected by the local media ‘El Espectador’, would maintain that several armed men threatened the driver of the truck so that he generated the blockade of the highway.
In the most affected departments, vehicle fires broke out at strategic points, for which the authorities had to impose restrictions on mobility to safeguard the well-being of the civilian population.
In Antioquia, Governor Aníbal Gaviria convened an extraordinary security council. On his Twitter, the president expressed that “in the face of threats of armed strike circulating in some municipalities of Antioquia, we have convened an Extraordinary Security Council with high command of all State forces and mayors of Bajo Cauca, Northeast and Urabá. Violence has never won and will never win.”
The defender of the Colombian people, Carlos Camargo, expressed through a statement the rejection of the intimidating actions of the Clan del Golfo against the civilian population.
1/5 We demand that the illegal armed groups not attack the civilian population.
We activated an emergency verification committee in Córdoba, Sur de Córdoba, Bajo Cauca Antioqueño, Urabá-Darién, Sur de Bolívar, Magdalena Medio and Sucre, due to armed actions in the last few hours. pic.twitter.com/8rLbxoOsWq
— Ombudsman (@DefensoriaCol) May 5, 2022
“Given this scenario, we request urgent measures from the authorities to guarantee the protection of the individual and collective rights of the inhabitants and communities of these regions of the country,” Camargo said.
With information from EFE, AP and local media
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