Word: rodriguez
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...early years a cell's financier would cart the money to a local bank and wire it to Panama. The cartel had a personal banker there: First Interamericas Bank, owned by Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela. In 1985 the U.S. government forced Manuel Noriega to close Interamericas and required U.S. banks to report all large cash transactions...
...Henry Orjuela Caballero is in jail in New York State awaiting trial on federal drug-trafficking conspiracy charges, brother Carlos is out on bail on similar charges filed against him in Los Angeles. Another brother, Jaime, the family boss, is free in Colombia. So are Don Chepe Santacruz, the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers and such rising powers as the Urdinola brothers. "You can't destroy the organization without lopping off its head," says DEA's Bonner. "The tentacles grow back. If the Cali cartel is to be attacked successfully, there must be pressure in Colombia...
...living at home, are not doing business as usual and will be arrested if found. Santacruz has kept out of sight since the government began its antidrug campaign after the assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan in August 1989. But others seem to feel safe from prosecution. Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela is very much at home, defiantly proclaiming his innocence and that of his brother Miguel. Gilberto describes himself as a "captain of industry and banker" and has the portfolio to prove it. He also has reputable friends who are partners, associates or suppliers in his business ventures, which...
Even when police do close in, the Cali bosses have escaped jail. When Gilberto was arrested in Spain in November 1984, the Colombian government went to great lengths to prevent his extradition to the U.S. According to a Rodriguez friend, Gilberto's son Jaime Fernando appealed to then President Belisario Betancur for help. Betancur declined comment. The elder Rodriguez says, "If Betancur helped in seeing I was extradited to Colombia and not the U.S., he was simply doing his duty as President, supporting an extradition order issued by a Colombian judge." Back in Cali, Rodriguez was tried on charges identical...
While the Rodriguez and Santacruz clans seem to enjoy considerable respect in Colombia, they are not universally admired. Some intellectuals protest that if the drug mafia's economic power is accepted, its values will eventually be countenanced as well. Critics are especially wary of the dynastic ambitions of the high-profile Rodriguez family. "They invest in the future," says a Bogota businessman. "They are thinking of the next generation, and the one after that...