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Drug Barons of Colombia refer to some of the most notable drug lords which operate in illegal drug trafficking in Colombia. Several of them, notably Pablo Escobar, were long considered among the world's most dangerous and most wanted men by US intelligence. "Ruthless and immensely powerful", several political leaders, such as President Virgilio Barco Vargas, became convinced that the drug lords were becoming so powerful that they could oust the formal government and run the country. ==History== The power of the Colombian drug barons took off in the 1970s and this resulted in a massive demand for cocaine in the United States and Europe. In 1975, Pablo Escobar started developing his cocaine operation. He flew a plane himself several times, mainly between Colombia and Panama, in order to smuggle a load into the United States. When he later bought fifteen bigger airplanes (including a Learjet) and six helicopters, he decommissioned the original plane and hung it above the gate of his ranch at Hacienda Napoles. In May 1976, Escobar and several of his men were arrested and found in possession of of white paste after returning to Medellín with a heavy load from Ecuador. Initially Escobar tried to bribe the Medellín judges who were forming the case against him. After many months, the case was dropped. This was the beginning of his dealing with the authorities, using bribery or other means to achieve his goals. Soon, the demand for cocaine was skyrocketing in the United States and Escobar organized more smuggling shipments, routes, and distribution networks in South Florida, California and other parts of the USA. The Medellín Cartel's massive wealth and power enabled them from the outset to bribe government and legal officials, and buy sophisticated weaponry for their protection.〔 Escobar and Carlos Lehder worked together to develop a new island trans-shipment point in the Bahamas, called Norman's Cay. Lehder and Robert Vesco purchased most of the land on the island which included a airstrip, a harbor, hotel, houses, boats, aircraft; he even built a refrigerated warehouse to store the cocaine. From 1978 until 1982, the Cay was the Caribbean's main drug smuggling hub for the Medellín Cartel, as well as a tropical hideaway and playground for Lehder and associates. They flew cocaine in from Colombia by jet and then reloaded it into small aircraft. They then distributed it to locations in Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas. Escobar was able to purchase the of land, which included Hacienda Napoles, for several million dollars. He created a zoo, a lake and other diversions for his family and organization.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Frontline: The Godfather of Cocaine )〕 At one point, it was estimated that seventy to eighty tons of cocaine were being shipped from Colombia to the U.S. every month. Cesar Gaviria Trujillo, the president of Colombia, cited Escobar and the Medellín Cartel as "the worst of two evils", the other being rivals, the Cali Cartel. He began gearing up much of the government resources into cracking down on the Medellín Cartel. José Santacruz Londoño, Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela were key figures in the Cali Cartel in the 1970s. They were primarily involved in marijuana trafficking, but in the 1980s they branched out into cocaine trafficking. For a time, the Cali Cartel eventually grew big enough to supply 70% of the United States cocaine demands through Jorge Alberto Rodriguez, who oversaw all major shipments entering the United States, and were able to meet 90% of the European cocaine market. The Cali Cartel was less violent than its rival, the Medellín Cartel, more inclined toward bribery rather than violence. While the Medellín Cartel were involved in a brutal campaign of violence against the Colombian government, the Cali Cartel grew in power, reaching their peak in the early to mid-1990s when they controlled some 80% of the world's cocaine supply and earned an estimated $8 billion a year. The Rodriguez-Orejuela family alone amassed a fortune of more than $250 billion in worldwide assets, according to the DEA.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Arrest of Cali mafia leader Jose Santacruz-Londono )〕 Santacruz Londoño's cocaine distribution and money laundering operations were based in the New York metropolitan area, but he and the Cali cartel operated in most of the major cities of the United States including New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Las Vegas, and Chicago.〔 In 1992, the DEA seized two of Santacruz Londoño's cocaine conversion laboratories in Brooklyn.〔 After the demise of the Medellín Cartel, the Colombian authorities turned their attention to the Cali Cartel. The campaign began in the summer of 1995, leading to the arrest of several Cali leaders; Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela was arrested on 9 June. Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela was arrested on 6 August. Santacruz Londoño was arrested on 4 July 1995. Londoño escaped La Picota Prison in Bogotá on 11 January 1996. The police tracked him down to Medellín on 5 March 1996. He was killed while attempting to flee. In 1996, the Medellín and Cali cartels were estimated to control 75–80% of the Andean region's cocaine traffic, and a similar percentage of the US cocaine market, earning $6–8 billion a year.〔〔 US law enforcement officials in the 1990s estimated that Colombian drug cartels spent more than $500 million on bribing officials every year. Several political leaders, such as President Virgilio Barco Vargas, became convinced that the ruthless drug lords were intent on becoming so powerful that they could oust the formal government and run the country.〔 Hundreds of government officials, judges and policemen who failed to accept bribes were assassinated under the orders of the barons. Illegal cocaine trafficking from Colombia is routed through Venezuela to northern part of Mexico and then further to the US. In 2012, serious action was initiated by the Venezuelan, Colombian, and US authorities working together to apprehend the drug lords in Venezuela. Six drug lords were handed into the custody of Colombia for further trial or deportation to the US for trial. Three notable Colombian drug lords who were captured are Diego Perez Henao in June, Javier Antonio Calle Serna, who surrendered in Aruba in May, and Daniel Barrera Barrera who was caught in September. Another was a Dominican and naturalized American citizen, a former U.S. marine who was accused by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez of being a U.S. mercenary.〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Drug barons of Colombia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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