(Archived Content)
JS-2106
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today added seven businesses and 16 individuals to its list of Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs). These companies and individuals were acting as fronts for Colombian drug lords Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela and formed a vital part of the organization’s financial network in Colombia and abroad.
“We have seen that the notorious Rodriguez Orejuela organization manipulates people and businesses both inside Colombia and out to traffic narcotics and bankroll their network,” said OFAC Director Robert Werner. “We continue to attack the financial web of the Cali Cartel, and today’s action ensures that these sham companies and operatives are denied access to the U.S. economy and financial system.”
Today’s announcement is a follow-up to OFAC sanctions actions in 2003-2004 against the world-wide financial network of the Rodriguez Orejuela organization. The OFAC action blocks the assets of SDNTs found in U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits Americans from doing business with them, thereby further exposing, isolating, and incapacitating Colombian drug cartels and their agents.
U.S. fugitive William Rodriguez Abadia, son of Miguel Rodriguez Orejeula and heir to the organizational throne, is among the shareholders ofAlero S.A., a garment manufacturer located in Cali, Colombia and named in today’s action. Also included among the seven businesses designated today are the Colombian financial front companies,A G Representaciones Ltda.,Inversiones Capital Ltda.,Representaciones Zatza Ltda., andValores Corporativos S.A.These businesses are all affiliated with the money remittance companyInternacional de Divisas S.A.and the stock brokerage firmObursatiles S.A., both of which were named to the SDNT list in 2003 because of their links to the Rodriguez Orejuela organization. In addition,*Farfalla Investment S.A.of Panama andGalaviz Corporation, Ltd.*of the Bahamas were also designated.
The legal representative ofAlerois Maria Iragorri Torres, who was named as an SDNT in March 2003 due to her involvement inInternacional de Divisas andObursatiles. Iragorri Torres, who is also involved inValores Corporativos, was arrested by Colombian authorities due to allegations of money laundering in January 2004.
Previously designated SDNT entities from the Cali and North Valle cartels include the Colombian airlineIntercontinental de Aviacion S.A., the paso fino horse farmCriadero La Luisa E.U., the industrial brick companyLadrillera La Candelaria Ltda., the mining companyIndustrial Minera y Pecuaria S.A., the industrial paper manufacturerUnipapel S.A., the agro-industrial businessViscaya Ltda., and theAmerica de Caliprofessional soccer team, as well as other agricultural, aviation, consulting, construction, distribution, financial, hotel, investment, manufacturing, mining, offshore, pharmaceutical, real estate and service firms.
This action is part of the ongoing interagency effort of the Treasury, Justice, State, and Homeland Security Departments to carry out Executive Order 12978, signed on October 21, 1995, which applies economic sanctions against Colombia’s narcotics traffickers. The assets of a total of 1,147 Colombian businesses and individuals are now blocked under the 1995 Executive Order. The SDNT list includes 16 kingpins from the Cali, North Valle, and North Coast drug cartels in Colombia.
A diagram of the businesses named by OFAC today is attached. For a complete list of the entities designated today, please visit: http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/actions/ For further information on actions taken against the Cali Cartel, please visit:
http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/js1915.htm(September 14, 2004)
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/js15.htm(February 6, 2003)
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/js122.htm(March 21, 2003)
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/js915.htm(October 17, 2003)