The armed forces of Colombia have captured Dairo Antonio Usuga, better known as Otoniel—reputedly one of the country’s biggest drug lords since Pablo Escobar.
“This is the biggest blow against drug trafficking in our country this century, President Ivan Duque said during a broadcast video message. “This blow is only comparable to the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s”.
A police officer died during the operation, he said.
Otoniel was one of the leaders of Los Urabenos, which the US State Department calls an extremely “violent criminal organisation comprised of former members of terrorist organisations”. He has been accused of sending dozens of cocaine shipments to the US and of killing police officers, recruiting minors, and sexually abusing children. Since the death of his brother in a 2012 raid, Otoniel has been in charge of the group.
He was associated with a former paramilitary organisation, AUC, which rejected the demobilisation process and re-armed in 2006.
Colombia has been hunting Otoniel for years. In 2015, the BBC reported that 1,200 security force personnel were after him, more than double the 500 who hunted Pablo Escobar. Operation Agamemnon, launched in 2016, saw dozens of Otoniel’s lieutenants killed or captured and forced him to constantly be on the move. As a result of back issues, he reportedly insisted on sleeping on orthopaedic mattresses wherever he was hiding out.
Intelligence from both the US and the UK led Colombian special forces to Otoniel’s jungle hideout, which was protected by eight rings of security.
According to a White House report, the production of coca, the raw ingredient in cocaine, jumped 16 per cent in 2020 with a record 245,000 hectares dedicated to it.
