Watch Colombia police claim anti-drugs success

Colombia police claim anti-drugs success


Colombian police say they have smashed a drug-trafficking network that was exporting several tonnes of cocaine to the US each month.

More than 30 suspects were arrested in co-ordinated raids across the country.

They are accused of belonging to the Urabenos, a powerful cartel founded by former right-wing paramilitaries.

Colombia's Defence Minister, Rodrigo Rivera, said the operation was a major success in the fight against cocaine trafficking.

"With this operation we have affected the entire structure of this organisation dedicated to producing and exporting drugs," he said.

The arrests were made with the help of the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

The Urabenos are one of dozens of violent drugs cartels that emerged in Colombia following the demobilisation of the paramilitary Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) in 1996.

It is led by two brothers who took over following the arrest last year of the drug lord Daniel Rendon Herrera, also known as Don Mario.

Based in the north-western region of Uraba, from where the group gets its name, the Urabenos have embarked on a national expansion with the apparent aim of becoming the biggest drug cartel in Colombia, says the BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Bogota.

They now dominate trafficking routes along Colombia's Caribbean Coast, and this latest network was seeking to take over routes in the eastern plains and into Venezuela, our correspondent adds.
coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11498478

Colombia arrests 'major cocaine trafficker'

Enjoy Colombia arrests 'major cocaine trafficker'


Mr Makled says he is just a businessman
A Venezuelan businessman suspected of being part of a major drug trafficking ring has been arrested by Colombian authorities.
Walid Makled Garcia, 43, who is wanted by the US on drug charges and Colombia and Venezuela on murder charges, was caught in the border city of Cucuta.

He is accused of trafficking 10 tons of cocaine every month to the US and Europe.

Colombian police have hailed the arrest as a significant success.

Colombian police chief Gen Oscar Naranjo said that Mr Makled is on a US extradition list as "one of the world's most wanted drug traffickers".

Also known by his alias "The Turk", Mr Makled is wanted by a New York court for allegedly being part of a group which regularly smuggles large amounts of cocaine to the US and European markets.

'Pseudo-businessman'
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote

Do you really believe I am a criminal? I'm a businessman”

Walid Makled Garcia
Suspect
At a news conference in Bogota on Friday, Gen Naranjo said Mr Makled was a "pseudo-businessman" who used legitimate business as a front for his illegal activities.

He was also said to have links with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) Marxist rebel group, Gen Naranjo said.

But a handcuffed Mr Makled protested, saying: "It's nothing, nothing, just lies, lies... Do you really believe I am a criminal? I'm a businessman."

He accused Venezuela of planting the drugs on him so they could seize his companies.

Venezuelan authorities say they are also preparing an extradition request for Mr Makled, who they believe was responsible for two murders.

One of the victims, newspaper columnist Orel Zambrano, was killed by two gunmen on a motorcycle in January 2009 after writing about drugs cases where the Makled family had been implicated.

In 2008, Venezuelan police arrested Mr Makled's three brothers after finding 300kg of cocaine on a family ranch.

The BBC's Jeremy McDermott says Mr Makled is also believed to have been involved in the murder in Venezuela in 2008 of Wilber Varela - also known as "Soap", one of Colombia's most powerful drugs traffickers.

Earlier this month, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos visited Venezuela to mend ties between the two neighbours.

Relations had grown cold after Mr Santos' predecessor accused Venezuela of harbouring Farc rebels
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11046360

Says condition are not rep yet NEWS AMERICAS Colombia rejects Farc talks offer

Watches this NEWS AMERICAS Colombia rejects Farc talks offer

The Colombian goverment has rejected an offer for talks from the country's most powerful rebel group.

In a videotaped message released before the appointment of president Juan Manuel Santos, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) leader Alfonso Cano offered to open peace talks with the new government.

"Colombia will never talk with terrorists, that is a lesson we have already learned," Rodrigo Rivera, the defence minister, told local media on Sunday.

"There is no dialogue with those who turn to terrorism."

In a separate interview with local radio, Rivera said that government forces knew where Cano is hiding.

He is "fleeing from the security forces. He has no rest... we are not going to let up," he said.

Conditions

After taking office, Santos said he would not close the door to talks, but they would have to be "based on the unalterable premise that (the guerrillas) give up arms, kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking, and intimidation".

The Farc has an estimated 8,000 fighters. Another leftist rebel group, the National Liberation Army, is believed to have some 2,000 fighters.

Colombia has been beset for years by violence involving leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary death squads, and powerful drug cartels.

Santos said on Friday that he did not believe the conditions were ripe for talks with the Farc, and ordered Rivera to press ahead with an offensive against them.

As defence minister, Rivera is in charge of both the armed forces and the national police.
coppied by http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/08/20108160342081386.html