Title: Kings of Cocaine: The Colombian Drug Cartels
Headings: Kings of Cocaine: The Colombian Drug Cartels
Kings of Cocaine: The Colombian Drug Cartels
The Rise of Colombian Cartels
The Medellin Cartel
The Cali Cartel
The Norte del Valle Cartel
The Future of Colombian Cartels
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Content: The Rise of Colombian Cartels
Since the 1970s, Colombia has harbored some of the most violent and sophisticated drug trafficking organizations in the world. What started as a small-scale operation of exporting slight amounts in suitcases eventually flourished into a multi-national empire with an estimated 22 million users in the US by the mid-80s. In 1982, the drug made up 30 percent of all Colombian exports, surpassing coffee . With growing success in smuggling, many Colombian drug lords began buying up vast quantities of land in order to launder drug money and gain social status amongst the country’s elite. By the late 1980s, drug traffickers became the largest landholders in Colombia and wielded tremendous political clout as profits grew immensely. Some of the most notorious, elite, and violent cartels came to power during this period, including the Medellin’s, the Cali’s and the Norte del Valle cartel. The Medellin Cartel
The infamous Pablo Escobar led one of the most ruthless cartel divisions within the city of Medellin, Colombia throughout the 1970s and 1980s and destroyed anyone who interfered with his cocaine operations. Escobar, along with Rodriguez Gacha and the Ochoa brothers (Jorge, Juan, and Fabio), collaborated with a young marijuana smuggler named Carlos Lehder. It was Lehder who convinced the cartel that they could fly cocaine in small, private airplanes directly into the United States instead of the tedious suitcase smuggling of the past. This innovation of smuggling large quantities within a barely detectable airplane led to astounding profits, which the organization invested in more sophisticated production and transportation methods.