Colombian Armed Conflict (1960s–present)
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Colombian Armed Conflict (1960s–present)
The Colombian conflict ( es, link=no, Conflicto armado interno de Colombia) began on May 27, 1964, and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups, crime syndicates, and far-left guerrilla groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Popular Liberation Army (EPL), fighting each other to increase their influence in Colombian territory. Some of the most important international contributors to the Colombian conflict include multinational corporations, the United States, Cuba, and the drug trafficking industry. The conflict is historically rooted in the conflict known as '' La Violencia'', which was triggered by the 1948 assassination of liberal political leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, and in the aftermath of the anti-communist repression in rural Colombia in the 1960s that led Liberal and Communist militants to re-organize into FARC. The reasons for fighti ...
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Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers, but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars. The conflict was based around the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their temporary alliance and victory against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in 1945. Aside from the nuclear arsenal development and conventional military deployment, the struggle for dominance was expressed via indirect means such as psychological warfare, propaganda campaigns, espionage, far-reaching embargoes, rivalry at sports events, and technological competitions such as the Space Race. The Western Bloc was led by the United States as well as a number of other First W ...
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Drug Cartel
A drug cartel is any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the largest trafficking organizations reached an agreement to coordinate the production and distribution. The term is used to refer to any criminal narcotics related organization. The basic structure of a drug cartel is as follows: * Falcons (Spanish: ''Halcones''): Considered as the "eyes and ears" of the streets, the "falcons" are the lowest rank in any drug cartel. They are responsible for supervising and reporting the activities of the police, the military and rival groups. * Hitmen (Spanish: ''Sicarios''): The armed group within the drug cartel, responsible for carrying out assassinations, kidnappings, thefts and extortions, operating protection rackets, as well as defending their ''plaza'' (turf) from rival groups and the military. * L ...
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Muerte A Secuestradores
Muerte a Secuestradores (English: ''Death to Kidnappers'') or MAS, was a Colombian paramilitary group supported by drug cartels, U.S. corporations, Colombian politicians, and wealthy landowners during the 1980s to protect their economic interests and fight kidnapping. Muerte a Secuestradores assassinated political opponents and community organizers, and waged counterinsurgency warfare against guerrilla movements such as the FARC-EP and the M-19. History Many of the drug barons began purchasing enormous quantities of land, in order to launder their drug money, and to gain social status amongst the traditional Colombian elite. By the late 1980s, the new class of drug traffickers were the largest landholders in Colombia. They used much of this land for grazing cattle, or left it completely idle as a show of wealth. They also raised private armies to fight off guerrillas who were trying to either redistribute their lands to local peasants, kidnap them, or extract the ''gramaje'' tax ...
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Medellín Cartel
The Medellín Cartel ( es, Cartel de Medellín) was a powerful and highly organized Colombian drug cartel and terrorist organization originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia that was founded and led by Pablo Escobar. It is often considered the first major "drug cartel" and was referred to as such (a ''cartel'') due to the organization's upper echelons being built on a partnership between multiple Colombian traffickers operating alongside Escobar. Included were Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez, Juan David Ochoa Vásquez, José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha and Carlos Lehder. The cartel operated from 1967 to 1993 in Bolivia, Colombia, Panama, Central America, Peru, the Bahamas, the United States (which included cities such as Los Angeles and Miami), as well as in Canada. Although the organization started out as a smuggling network in the late 1960s, it wasn't until 1976 that the organization turned to trafficking cocaine. At the height of its operations, the Medellín Cartel smuggled mult ...
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Oficina De Envigado
La Oficina de Envigado ( en, The Office of Envigado) is a drug cartel and criminal organization originally founded as an enforcement and collections arm of Pablo Escobar's Medellín Cartel. Despite being noted for its historical affiliation with drug trafficking and other organized crime activities, Oficina de Envigado's criminal activities were no longer centered on direct involvement in such activity by 2019 and are now mainly focused on providing services to lower level drug traffickers and mafia groups. It operates throughout Colombia, but mainly in the cities of Medellín and Envigado. It also controlled extortion, gambling, and money laundering businesses within the Valle de Aburrá that surrounds Medellín. It positioned itself as the chief mediator and debt collector in drug trafficking disputes and maintained major connections with Colombian paramilitaries and guerillas. History La Oficina was founded as an enforcement wing for the Medellín Cartel by Diego Murillo Be ...
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Clan Del Golfo
The Clan del Golfo (English: The Gulf Clan), also known as Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – AGC) and formerly called Los Urabeños and Clan Úsuga, is a prominent Colombian Paramilitarism in Colombia, neo-paramilitary group and currently the country's largest drug cartel. It is based in the Urabá Antioquia, Urabá region of Antioquia Department, Antioquia, and is involved in the Colombian armed conflict. Los Urabeños is one of the organizations that appeared after the demobilization of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. In late 2011 Los Urabeños declared war on Los Rastrojos over the control of the drug trade in Medellín. Their main source of income is cocaine trafficking as they appear to be the largest distributors of cocaine in all of Colombia. As of late 2021, it is considered the most powerful criminal organization in Colombia, having some 3,000 members in the inner circle of the organization in 2016 with its cur ...
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Cali Cartel
The Cali Cartel ( es, Cartel de Cali) was a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca. Its founders were the brothers Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela. They broke away from Pablo Escobar and his Medellín associates in 1987, when Hélmer "Pacho" Herrera joined what became a four-man executive board that ran the cartel. At the height of the Cali Cartel's reign from 1993-1996, they were cited as having control of over 91% of the world's cocaine market and were said to be directly responsible for the growth of the cocaine market in Europe, controlling 90% of the market there as well. By the mid-1990s, the leader of the Cali Cartel's international drug trafficking Miguel Rodríguez was a $7 billion a year criminal enterprise. Foundation The Cali Cartel was formed by the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers and Santacruz, all coming from what is described as a higher social background than most other traffickers of t ...
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Pedro Oliverio Guerrero
Pedro Oliveiro Guerrero Castillo (February 28, 1970 in San Martín, Meta, – December 24, 2010 in Mapiripán, Meta), also known as Cuchillo (The Knife), and as Didier, was a Colombian drug lord and the former leader of the Colombian Popular Revolutionary Anti-communist Army (Spanish: ''Ejército Revolucionario Anticomunista de Colombia'' – ERPAC), a drug trafficking, right wing paramilitary organization. His nickname came from the favoured weapon he used on his victims. Member of a family already involved in crime, Guerrero and his siblings were known as Los Cuchillos (the Knives) due to their habit of sporting those weapons. He joined the underground crime world during his teenage years as a member of the private militia of drug lord Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, ''aka'' El Mexicano. Following the death of El Mexicano, Guerrero escaped to the department of Guaviare where he joined the paramilitary groups that were active in the region. These paramilitary groups grew in number ...
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Bloque Meta
Bloque Meta (English: Meta Block) was a Colombian drug trafficking, neo-paramilitary organization engaged in the Colombian armed conflict. Bloque Meta's history can be traced back to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC. When the AUC demobilized in 2006, many former members of the organization formed ERPAC, which would later partly become the Bloque Meta, to continue the counterrevolutionary struggle against the FARC in Colombia's eastern plains. Above all, the Bloque Meta is considered one of Colombia's most brutal drug trafficking organizations. The group could have some 260 members in total. The last leader of the criminal group, Arnulfo Hernandez Guzman, also known as Tigre, was captured September 22, 2017, in Villavicencio (Meta). With this capture, according to statements by the Ministry of Defence, the organization is completely dismantled. Recent history The Bloque Meta is believed to have been created by former members of the AUC who refused to demobilize tog ...
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Libertadores Del Vichada
Libertadores del Vichada (English: The Liberators of Vichada), was a Colombian drug trafficking neo-paramilitary group involved in the Colombian armed conflict. It is considered to be one of the most important drug trafficking organizations in eastern Colombia. The group is led by Martín Farfán Díaz González, alias 'Pijarbey,' a former leader of the neo-paramilitary group ERPAC. According to Colombia's prosecutor general, Díaz González is responsible for several homicides and acts of terrorism against the civilian population. The last leader of the criminal group was captured September 22, 2017, in Villavicencio (Meta). With this capture, according to statements by the Ministry of Defence, the organization is completely dismantled. Background The origins of Libertadores del Vichada can be traced back to the disintegration of ERPAC, an armed, paramilitary group that was partially demobilized in 2009. However, only 300 out of roughly 900 ERPAC members surrendered to Colomb ...
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Los Rastrojos
Los Rastrojos is a Colombian drug cartel and paramilitary group engaged in the Colombian armed conflict. The group was formed by Norte del Valle cartel capo Wilber Varela, alias "Jabon" and one of his right-hand men, "Diego Rastrojo", around 2004 when Varela fell out with fellow-capo Diego Leon Montoya, alias " Don Diego". The group became independent after the murder of its main founder in Venezuela in 2008 and at its height was one of the most important drug trafficking organizations in Colombia. The group funds itself primarily by trafficking cocaine, marijuana and heroin, and illegal gold mining, thus taking advantage of high gold prices in 2010 and 2011. Simon Romero, ''New York Times'', 3 March 2011In Colombia, New Gold Rush Fuels Old Conflict/ref> Los Rastrojos are, together with the Norte del Valle cartel, considered the "heirs" of th ...
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