Ochoa Vasquez, Jorge Luis, 1949- , Columbian
Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez,
Colombian drug king. Fabio Ochoa Restrepo, born in Puerto Salgar,
east of Medellin, Col., was a cattle breeder until he began
trafficking cocaine in the mid-1970s. It was his son, Jorge Luis
Ochoa Vasquez, who transformed the Ochoa family business into a
modern drug corporation. The U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration was unaware of the Ochoas until sixty pounds of
cocaine were confiscated in Miami in 1977. They discovered that
Ochoa Vasquez was a major supplier of cocaine to the East Coast
of the U.S. Following his indictment, Ochoa Vasquez escaped to
Medellin to run the business with his father and his older
brother, Juan David. The youngest member of the Ochoa clan,
Fabito, stayed in Miami to oversee distribution from a building
in Coral Gables.
In November 1981, leftist guerrillas of M-19 (Movimiento 19 de Abril) kidnapped Ochoa Restrepo's daughter, Marta, and held her for ransom. Ochoa Restrepo and his fellow drug traffickers formed a vigilante organization called Muerte a Secuestradores (MAS, or Death to Kidnappers). In the next few months, hired gunmen kidnapped or killed dozens of M-19 members until the group released Marta Ochoa unhurt in February 1982.
Following this episode, a new spirit of cooperation was born between the Ochoas, Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas, and others in the Colombian drug cartel. In an arrangement with Escobar Gaviria, the Ochoas provided "enforcement," including hitmen, guards, and MAS, whose death squads were thought to include high-ranking Colombian army officers. The Ochoas also handled payoffs to police, judges, and politicians.
Colombian president Belisario Betancur Cuartas tried to drive the drug barons from his country following the 1984 murder of Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, the Colombian minister of justice. The Ochoas and other leaders of the cartel were given refuge in Panama City by President Manuel Antonio Noriega, after a "protection" fee of between $4 million and $7 million had been paid. It was Noriega's collusion with the drug traffickers that resulted in his indictment by a Florida federal court in February 1988.
The DEA traced Ochoa Vasquez and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela from Panama to Madrid, Spain, where both were arrested by police on Nov. 15, 1984, and held until U.S. officials could produce extradition papers. When news of the arrest reached Bogota, the Spanish embassy there began receiving threats. On Nov. 26, a car loaded with dynamite exploded in front of the U.S. embassy in Bogota, killing one and injuring four Colombians. On Aug. 13, 1986, a few weeks after the Spanish had returned Ochoa Vasquez to Colombia, a judge in Cartagena ordered him released.
On Nov. 21, 1987, Colombian police arrested Ochoa Vasquez by accident at a roadblock outside Palmira. Refusing to take his bribe money, the patrolmen took Ochoa Vasquez to an army base. Politically connected family members issued the usual threats. "We will declare total and absolute war against the country's political leaders," one communique read. "We will execute (Colombia's) principal political party chieftains out of hand."
On Dec. 30, 1987, Ochoa walked out of La Picota Prison, the writ authorizing his release signed by Bogota judge Andres Montanez, who had earlier vacated charges against Escobar Gaviria. Frustrated by the corruption of Colombian officials, the U.S. Customs Service and federal marshals devised an elaborate plan to capture Ochoa Vasquez in Venezuela. But the U.S. State Department decided that the risk of violence in Caracas was too great. "It was an ill planned, ill thought out operation and the government of Venezuela said no," according to U.S. ambassador Otto Reich. Ochoa Vasquez has continued to elude U.S. law enforcement officials. See: Escobar Gaviria, Pablo; Lehder Rivas, Carlos Enrique.
