Colombia: The Cali Connection
| Pages | 303-306 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb025728 |
| Published date | 01 January 1996 |
| Date | 01 January 1996 |
| Author | Rinita Sarker |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
Journal of Financial Crime — Vol. 3 No. 3 — International
Colombia: The Cali Connection
Rinita Sarker
For the last two decades drug trafficking has been
the fastest growth industry in Latin America.
Despite the billions of dollars spent in controlling
it, and thousands of lives lost, results have been
poor and counter-productive. Hitherto, drug
enforcement policies have been flawed by a 'quick-
fix' mentality, riddled with contradictions, which
chose to ignore the fact that the problem involves
consumption not just production, and touches on
international banking activities and multinational
commerce. The Colombian Cali cartel, reputed to
own 80 per cent of the world's cocaine supply, has
manipulated the situation to such an extent that
even the recent arrest of its head, Gilberto Ore-
juela, 'The Chess Player', will do little to topple its
stranglehold on the market. The rise of the Cali
cartel and subsequent spread of narcoviolence to
the USA, may now force the US Drug Enforce-
ment Administration (DEA) to reconsider its pre-
war policies in favour of the Colombian
Government's increasingly pragmatic strategy. If
the USA does not take heed it may yet suffer the
fate forecast by Gabriel Garcia Marques for
Colombia. 'We will rot alive in a war that cannot
be won and the rest of the world will rot with us.'
KINGS OF COCAINE
The Cali cartel represents the world's most power-
ful drug-trafficking enterprise. Controlled from its
Page 303
To continue reading
Request your trial