First modification: Last modification:
New York (AFP) – In a turn to the attitude maintained since his arrival in the United States in 2022, the Colombian drug lord Dairo Antonio Úsuga David, alias ‘Otoniel’, pleaded guilty this Wednesday before the Justice of charges of cocaine trafficking that can lead to to spend the rest of his days in jail.
Dressed in a blue short-sleeved shirt, the prison uniform, ‘Otoniel’, 51, pleaded guilty before Judge Dora Irizarry to three counts: continued criminal enterprise, conspiring to manufacture and distribute cocaine, as well as maritime conspiracy for drug trafficking, of which he was accused by a Florida court.
The Prosecutor’s Office warned that the sum of the sentences could lead him to spend the rest of his days in prison if the judge does not take into account when issuing the ruling the fact that he has acknowledged his guilt, thus avoiding a long and costly trial. .
Likewise, he will have to spend five years on probation once the sentence is concluded, and agreed to pay 216 million dollars in addition to fines that could reach 22 million dollars.
At the end of the hearing, ‘Otoniel’ read a statement in which he acknowledged having sent 96,800 kilos of cocaine to the United States through Central America and Mexico.
The drug lord joined the Peasant Self-Defense Forces of Córdoba and Urará in 1997 and in 2008 the far-right paramilitary group the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC), then led by Daniel Rendón Herrera, alias “Don Mario”, also known as Clan del Golfo, of which he was the leader from 2009 until October 2021, when he was arrested.
cocaine taxes
After acknowledging that in “military work, homicides were committed,” he also maintained that his group, also known as Los Urabeños and Clan Úsuga, “gave security to laboratories and drug traffickers and collected taxes” for the cocaine that was processed and transited through the territories they controlled.
“The AGC charged a fixed rate for each kilo that was manufactured or transported through the areas controlled by the group,” he acknowledged.
The guilty plea spares him a trial, the date of which was yet to be determined. He also agrees not to appeal the future ruling.
In other cases, a guilty plea has softened the sentences. This in exchange for collaborating with Justice to provide valuable information about possible collaborators.
After unleashing a bloody reprisal in Colombia against the security forces as a result of his extradition, last August, a few days before the arrival of the leftist Gustavo Petro to the Colombian presidency, he asked his gang to stop the wave of murders in the that he had embarked.
With his “total peace” program, Petro has begun to negotiate with the ELN, the last recognized guerrilla in the country, and proposes a submission in exchange for penal benefits for the drug gangs.
According to independent estimates, Otoniel’s gang has some 3,000 members, including combatants and collaborators.
According to the DEA, the US drug enforcement agency, the Gulf cartel collaborated with the Mexican cartels of Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación to introduce drugs into the United States.
“2 billion dollars”
According to the agency, 90% of the drugs that reach the US market come from Colombia, and are often mixed with fentanyl, a powerful substance added by Mexican cartels, “creating a lethal combination.” In 2021, the United States recorded 108,000 overdose deaths.
Colombian justice also accuses “Otoniel” of homicide, terrorism, recruitment of minors, kidnapping and sexual crimes, among other crimes that he committed when he was a guerrilla and paramilitary, before becoming the most wanted drug trafficker in Colombia.
The victims had requested the “suspension” of the extradition, alleging their right to know the truth and to be compensated. But the Colombian justice system gave the green light to his transfer to the United States.
Born into a peasant family in northwestern Colombia, Úsuga has been accused by the authorities of abusing girls and adolescents in their areas of interference.
In 2017 he had announced his intention to reach an agreement to submit to justice, but the government responded with fierce persecution.
One of the last to arrive in the United States to sit on the bench was Nini Johana Úsuga, alias ‘La Negra’, sister of ‘Otoniel’, to answer for drug trafficking crimes.
