(Washington) Colombian cocaine trafficking baron Dairo Antonio Usuga could find familiar faces if extradited to the United States after his capture, with many members of his cartel, including some of his cousins, having already made the move. route.
Colombian authorities on Saturday announced the arrest of Usuga, nicknamed “Otoniel,” whose organization has potentially exported more than 100 tonnes of cocaine around the world over the past 20 years.
The United States was offering a $ 5 million reward for the capture of “Otoniel” and is expected to seek his extradition.
If successful, this would be the latest extradition in a long list of members of the “Clan del Golfo”, after a long campaign by Colombian and American authorities to bring the cartel to its knees.
The first indictment of Dairo Antonio Usuga dates back to 2009, in New York, when he was seen only as an assistant to Daniel Rendon Herrera, leader of a smaller cocaine traffic.
The latter was arrested the same year by the Colombian authorities, leaving Usuga as chief.
The cartel, then named Los Urabenos after the region from which it operated near the Panamanian border, gained momentum after the United States helped Colombia crush rival traffickers, Los Rastrojos, in 2012.
Los Urabenos thus became the main Colombian cartel, known for its dozens of violent murders of rivals as well as for its distribution of tons of drugs on the world markets.
Washington once considered Usuga, Rendon Herrera and their cartel to be among the “greatest threats” in the world to transnational organized crime.
The begining of the end
US authorities accuse the duo formed by Usuga and Rendon Herrera, along with 15 others, of having exported some 73 tonnes of cocaine to the United States between 2003 and 2012.
And in accordance with the principle of “extraterritorial jurisdiction,” they have also been charged with several murders outside the United States committed against leaders and members of rival cartels.
Daniel Rendon Herrera was extradited in 2018 to the United States, this year also marking the beginning of the end for Dairo Antonio Usuga’s “Clan del Golfo” cartel.
One after another, members of the cartel, sometimes from Usuga’s family, were arrested and extradited to the United States to face American justice.
In 2018, Henry de Jesus Lopez Londono, one of the main figures of the cartel, was sentenced to 31 years in prison in the United States.
One of “Otoniel’s” cousins, Joaquin Guillermo David Usuga, also one of the main leaders of the “Clan del Golfo”, was extradited in December 2019 to Texas. Last week he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and faces a sentence of 10 years in prison to life.
Another cousin of Otoniel, Javier Dario Usuga Murillo, was captured and extradited in 2019, while yet another cousin, Harlinson Usuga Usuga, was sentenced in September to more than 12 years in prison for his role in the shipment of the drug to the United States.
Otoniel’s sister, Nini Johana Usuga, nicknamed “La Negra”, was arrested in Colombia this year. Indicted in Miami for drug trafficking, she could also be extradited to the United States according to local media. The US Department of Justice did not respond to requests on his case on Monday.