Word: medellin
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Five years ago there were 15 private security companies in Medellin, with perhaps 1,500 men on their payrolls. Now the city has 32 such firms employing 5,000 guards. Scores of new gun permits are issued weekly to private citizens. "People are afraid, even in their own homes," says the manager of the city's largest security concern, whose guards carry shotguns and pistols. "They are turning to us for help...
With all its wealth, the cartel need not stoop to violence to get its way. Up to 80% of the police force in Medellin is suspected of working for the Mafia. Last December the cartel was able to secure the release from a Bogota jail of Jorge Luis, a brother of Jorge Ochoa Vasquez's, a reputed drug billionaire whose sudden release from a Colombian prison last January infuriated the Reagan Administration...
Though their leaders are seldom seen on the streets, many of the hundreds of cartel employees -- the hit men, the chemists and the so-called mules who transport the cocaine, among others -- move about openly in Medellin. They can be spotted spending freely at the glitzy restaurants and nightclubs, some of which are said to be owned by the Mafia, on Las Palmas road. Young women in stone-washed jeans and high-heeled shoes often accompany the members of the drug-industry proletariat. On occasion the four-wheel-drive vehicles they favor cruise the streets in force. The cartel...
...many of the city's residents resent the presence of the drug lords, others have developed a grudging pride concerning their town's prominence -- and a visible annoyance at recent U.S. attempts to have those responsible extradited to the U.S. One afternoon, as a foreigner got up to leave Medellin's Macarena bullring, someone in the crowd shouted, "Hey, you, what about extradition?" It was an unfriendly, almost chilling challenge. The crowd parted to allow the stranger through and then closed ranks around the man again -- just as Medellin sometimes seems to shelter the wealthy cartel that has made...
...painful squeeze. While he easily rides out street protests, the general may step aside if Washington drops drug charges. -- Besieged by critics, Israel' s Prime Minister Shamir prepares to visit Washington. -- The pace slows in Afghan peace talks, but a settlement is still in sight. -- Welcome to Medellin, the cocaine capital of the world...