The Colombian National Army began 2015 by capturing an alleged high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in a rural area in the Algeciras municipality in Huila department following a gun battle.
The Colombian National Army began 2015 by capturing an alleged high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in a rural area in the Algeciras municipality in Huila department following a gun battle.
On January 1, Soldiers arrested Carlos Andres Bustos Córtez, also known as “Richard,” and suspected to be the second-in-command of the FARC’s Ayiber Gonzales Company. He was transported to Neiva University Hospital in the department of Huila to treat a non-life-threatening injury he received during the gun battle. Richard was wanted in connection with the killings of eight police officers and for directing extortion schemes which included attacks against police stations, store owners, and the country’s energy infrastructure.
Troops also captured an alleged FARC operative who uses the alias “James” and is suspected of being part of Richard’s security detail.
Colombian Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón told reporters the Army will continue to “protect the Colombian people” and “persecute those who threaten tranquility, life and peace.”
Paraguay’s SENAD: Country’s narco-trafficking generates at least $650 million annually
Narco-trafficking generates at least $650 million annually in Paraguay, according to the country’s National Anti-Drug Secretary (SENAD).
The country has between 5,000 and 8,000 hectares of land which narco-traffickers use to produce 17,500 tons of processed marijuana annually, according to SENAD Minister Luis Rojas.
Drug traffickers in Paraguay typically launder their profits through the automobile, cattle and credit card industries.
Mexico, U.S. work together to sanction alleged Sinaloa Cartel aide
The U.S. Treasury Department has designated Alejandra Araujo Uriarte as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker for allegedly holding and hiding assets in her name on behalf of her son-in-law, Juan José Esparragoza Moreno, known as “El Azul,” and a suspected leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.
Mexican law enforcement officials worked in cooperation with the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to levy the sanctions, which are pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). The sanctions freeze her U.S. financial assets.
“Araujo Uriarte has knowingly concealed the assets of an influential drug lord,” OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin said in a prepared statement in December. “[The] designation builds on our unrelenting efforts to disrupt the Sinaloa Cartel and other narcotics organizations around the world.”
The U.S. Treasury Department designated El Azul and the Sinaloa Cartel as significant foreign narcotics traffickers pursuant to the Kingpin Act in 2003 and 2009, respectively.
It is unclear whether El Azul is still alive, however. In June 2014, one of his sons, José Juan Esparragoza Jiménez, told a federal judge during a court hearing that his father had died of a heart attack.
In addition to El Azul, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned seven members of his family, including his wife, Ofelia Monzón Araujo, on July 24, 2012. After U.S. authorities sanctioned Monzón Araujo, she allegedly began transferring the ownership of land in the Mexican city of Culiacán in the sate of Sinaloa to her mother, Alejandra Araujo Uriarte.
The Colombian National Army began 2015 by capturing an alleged high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in a rural area in the Algeciras municipality in Huila department following a gun battle.
On January 1, Soldiers arrested Carlos Andres Bustos Córtez, also known as “Richard,” and suspected to be the second-in-command of the FARC’s Ayiber Gonzales Company. He was transported to Neiva University Hospital in the department of Huila to treat a non-life-threatening injury he received during the gun battle. Richard was wanted in connection with the killings of eight police officers and for directing extortion schemes which included attacks against police stations, store owners, and the country’s energy infrastructure.
Troops also captured an alleged FARC operative who uses the alias “James” and is suspected of being part of Richard’s security detail.
Colombian Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón told reporters the Army will continue to “protect the Colombian people” and “persecute those who threaten tranquility, life and peace.”
Paraguay’s SENAD: Country’s narco-trafficking generates at least $650 million annually
Narco-trafficking generates at least $650 million annually in Paraguay, according to the country’s National Anti-Drug Secretary (SENAD).
The country has between 5,000 and 8,000 hectares of land which narco-traffickers use to produce 17,500 tons of processed marijuana annually, according to SENAD Minister Luis Rojas.
Drug traffickers in Paraguay typically launder their profits through the automobile, cattle and credit card industries.
Mexico, U.S. work together to sanction alleged Sinaloa Cartel aide
The U.S. Treasury Department has designated Alejandra Araujo Uriarte as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker for allegedly holding and hiding assets in her name on behalf of her son-in-law, Juan José Esparragoza Moreno, known as “El Azul,” and a suspected leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.
Mexican law enforcement officials worked in cooperation with the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to levy the sanctions, which are pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). The sanctions freeze her U.S. financial assets.
“Araujo Uriarte has knowingly concealed the assets of an influential drug lord,” OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin said in a prepared statement in December. “[The] designation builds on our unrelenting efforts to disrupt the Sinaloa Cartel and other narcotics organizations around the world.”
The U.S. Treasury Department designated El Azul and the Sinaloa Cartel as significant foreign narcotics traffickers pursuant to the Kingpin Act in 2003 and 2009, respectively.
It is unclear whether El Azul is still alive, however. In June 2014, one of his sons, José Juan Esparragoza Jiménez, told a federal judge during a court hearing that his father had died of a heart attack.
In addition to El Azul, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned seven members of his family, including his wife, Ofelia Monzón Araujo, on July 24, 2012. After U.S. authorities sanctioned Monzón Araujo, she allegedly began transferring the ownership of land in the Mexican city of Culiacán in the sate of Sinaloa to her mother, Alejandra Araujo Uriarte.