COLOMBIA: Today Colombia Extradited To The United States A Sister Of Accused Major Drug Cartel Leader Dairo Antonio Usaga Who Was Captured Last Year. She Managed International Relations.

CABLENOTICIAS published May 10, 2022: Presidente Duque firmó la extradición de Nini Johana Úsuga, hermana ‘Otoniel’.

DW News published October 24, 2021: Colombia's most-wanted drug lord Otoniel captured in jungle hideout. Colombia's most wanted drug lord and gang leader is behind bars. Soldiers captured Dairo Antonio Úsuga, known as Otoniel, in an operation near the border with Panama. He is accused of drug-trafficking, murder and kidnapping.

The operation to capture Otoniel involved more than 500 soldiers and special forces. The narco-trafficker is accused of spending decades building the so-called Gulf Clan cartel controlling much of the smuggling of cocaine through northern Colombia. Over those years, he allied himself with rebel groups - both right and left-wing - to ensure his survival in the jungle. He allegedly oversaw an army of assassins who kept northern Colombia in fear as they fought for control of lucrative smuggling routes. Otoniel's arrest comes amid a surge in the production of coca - the raw material used to make cocaine - to new levels - despite decades of efforts to eradicate the drug trade. 

WION published October 24, 2021: Colombia's most feared drug lord Dairo Antonio Usuga captured. Colombia's largest narco-trafficking gang ‘Gulf Clan’ head Dairo Antonio Usuga has been captured near one of his main outposts in Necocli by security officials. In the images released by the government, the 50-year-old drug lord, who is also called as Otoniel, can be seen in handcuffs and surrounded by soldiers.

Reuters News

Colombia extradites accused drug cartel leader's sister to U.S.

written by Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta Writing by Oliver Griffin; editing by Grant McCool and Richard Chang

Friday July 1, 2022

BOGOTA - Colombia on Friday extradited to the United States a sister of accused major drug cartel leader Dairo Antonio Usaga, known as Otoniel, to face drug trafficking charges, the national police said.

Colombian police accuse Nini Johana Usaga, 39, of being responsible for laundering drug money for the Clan del Golfo and handling international relations with cartels in other countries like Mexico, helping to coordinate shipments of narcotics.

Her brother, accused head of the Clan del Golfo, was extradited to face drug trafficking charges in the United States in early May. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in federal court in New York. read more

Authorities say Otoniel, 50, is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of members of Colombia's security forces.

Six other people were extradited alongside Nini Johana Usaga to also face drug trafficking charges.

Though extradition was abolished in 1991 in Colombia, Congress restored it just six years later. It is one of the main tools in Colombia's arsenal for fighting drug trafficking.

Otoniel, who according to Colombian authorities trafficked 180 to 200 tonnes of cocaine a year, was detained last October in Antioquia province.

The Clan del Golfo, which has more than 1,200 combatants according to security forces, launched a so-called "armed strike" to protest Otoniel's extradition, paralyzing swathes of Colombia in the process. READ MORE.

Military and police authorities from more than 40 countries worked to capture 169 tonnes of cocaine and 41 tonnes of marijuana during the ninth phase of the international anti-narcotics Orion campaign, Colombia's Defense Minister Diego Molano said later on Friday.

With the seizures from Orion's most recent phase, which ran from March to May, drugs confiscated since 2018 total 716 tonnes of cocaine and 216 tonnes of marijuana.

Drug trafficking and the war on drugs are major contributors to Colombia's armed conflict, according to a report this week from the country's truth commission, which was established as part of a 2016 peace deal with the now demobilized FARC guerrillas. READ MORE.