DRUG TRAFFICKERS

JORGE OCHOA

Can you describe how you became involved in the cocaine business?

I was very young and I didn't have any experience, not even in life, or
anything. By coincidence, I met a friend who was in that. We began a
business that was very small. He introduced me to someone, and between the
two of us, we sold him a small quantity. But it wasn't that I needed the
money to live or anything. We were born in a wealthy family, to live well.
We never needed anything. . . . The business started growing like any
business. It becomes like a ball of snow. It grows by itself, and demand it
makes it grow. The business grows on its own--not because you want the
business to grow, but it's that the business itself starts growing. It
seemed like a game, and nobody paid any attention to it. Nobody, nobody.
"That was something very easy," I thought. . . .

Can you recount your first [shipment of] drugs that you sent to the United
States?

. . . It was maximum about 20 kilos among many people. . . .

How profitable was the business in the beginning for you?

. . . It has always been lucrative. But back then, there was no kind of
violence in the business or any kind of problem. When it got big is when
the problems began. When it got big, the problems began, and a lot of
people got involved. . . .

We've spoken with members of the DEA and also here with the investigators,
the police, the DAS here. They said that, in the early years of the cocaine
business, they were spending their time in the north of the country. They
were concerned about the marijuana business and they really didn't pay any
attention to cocaine.

Yes. In the beginning . . . the big business was the marijuana. Cocaine was
not a big part. The marijuana business ended because they started to
produce that drug in the US. Very few people exported marijuana. . . . They
were growing marijuana in the United States, so then there's no need for
them to receive any marijuana. So the business of cocaine was very small.
It was very small. And then, little by little, it became more important
than the marijuana business.

Do you remember a time--a particular deal--when you realized that this was
really going to be big?

No, I don't remember a moment. That's something that became big on itself.
And then a lot of Colombians started getting involved, Mexico, Peru,
Ecuador, Bolivia. All these countries got involved in this business because
the business of marijuana ended. That's why, I believe, that the cocaine
business grew--because this is produced in Latin America and not in the
United States. Marijuana ended here because they were producing it there. .
. .

A lot of young Colombian men were involved in some way with the cocaine
business. But you became a grand trafficker. What allowed you to reach the
top of the business, while others did not?

I thought because we were a very-well known family in Medellin. Medellin is
a very small town and so everybody finds out what people are doing. That's
why I got famous, that's all.

In the beginning were you working with Pablo Escobar? When did you begin
your relationship or friendship with Pablo Escobar?

I knew Pablo Escobar from many years ago. I met him in the business because
he was involved in this business. But I wasn't a very good friend of his or
anything. Everybody talked about him, but I wasn't a very, very good friend
of his. But this is a small town and everybody knows each other. Everybody
knows you and you always know everyone, including Pablo Escobar.

How important was Carlos Lehder to the cocaine business?

I met Carlos Lehder. He was a nice, intelligent and crazy kind of guy. He
had an island called Norman's Cay. Because you know everyone in the
business, I also met Carlos through them.

Was Norman's Cay important to your cocaine business?

Norman's Cay was a bridge that was used by everyone in the business at that
time. It was something that helped me, and it helped a lot of people at
that moment. It seems almost that law enforcement hardly existed at this
point in time. It was easy to buy an island in the Bahamas. Is that the way
it was? I don't really know. . . . Everybody used the routes that Carlos
had. . . .

. . . When you needed to run cocaine to the United States, how did you make
arrangements with pilots and with Norman's Cay?

Back then, people were involved in that business. They would offer you,
"Hey, there's a really good route through the Bahamas," and you didn't
quite know if it was Norman's Cay or where. . . .

Who, generally, were your pilots? What type of men were they?

The pilots were American at that time. You wouldn't even know who they were.

Did you get to know these Americans? What was their background? Where were
they from? How did they learn to fly?

I didn't know any of them. I didn't personally meet any pilots.

Many people said that a lot of pilots came out of Vietnam, and afterwards
got involved in the cocaine trade.

Yes, I think that's right, because it coincided at the time when the
Vietnam war was happening. . . . There were a lot of pilots, a lot of crazy
people. I had heard that a lot of them had been pilots in Vietnam, but I
didn't meet any pilot personally. . . . The end of Vietnam did coincide
with the beginning of the business.

I'm surprised that you didn't personally know the pilots. At what level
were you operating?

I never went to an airstrip to send a kilo of cocaine. I didn't go
personally to put the cocaine inside a plane, so I didn't meet any of the
pilots.

What was an average day like for you in your line of work?

. . . You would buy the cocaine processed. You didn't even know where they
were processing it at that moment. There were people that would sell it to
you, there were people that would buy it, and there were intermediaries
that would offer the cocaine. You didn't have your own lab back then.

I still don't quite understand what you did on a day-to-day basis.

One doesn't dedicate all one's time to that. At that time, I lived with my
family. I tended to my family. I kept an eye on my daughter--at that time I
only had one daughter, now I have three. I would get up, take her to
school. I lived a normal life . . . and I also dealt with horses. I had a
lot of activities. I wasn't solely dedicated to the business; it doesn't
take all of your time.

So drug trafficking was a lucrative part-time job?

Part-time, yes.

At what point did you begin to build your own labs? . . . And why did you
do that?

There was Tranquilandia, which was very famous. We would send to people to
buy cocaine from there. . .

Were you a part owner of Tranquilandia?

I was not an owner. I was a client. . . .

Who owned Tranquilandia?

A lot of people were part owners. Lots of people worked there. . . .
Everybody who wanted to buy a kilo or who had a kilo or who wanted to bring
it from Bolivia, or from Ecuador--they would bring it to Tranquilandia and
process it there. . . . But it wasn't like Tranquilandia had an owner.
Everybody who wanted something would have access to this supermarket. So
Tranquilandia was a sort of . . . a cooperative among several people. . . .

What happened to Tranquilandia in 1984?

In 1984, the police took over Tranquilandia. A lot of people were working
there. . . . Mexican security agents arrived by air. . . . We could have
defended Tranquilandia at that moment with violence. But we said "No, no,
there should be no violence." So police took over the place . . . with no
violence. They didn't fire a single bullet at anyone.

This was a huge laboratory. The DEA and the Colombian police had never seen
such a laboratory. How big of a blow was its loss to the cocaine business?

. . . I don't think it affected the traffic much. There were many other
labs all over the country, in many places. . . .

The DEA says that the bust in Tranquilandia was really the beginning of the
drug war in Colombia. Is this true? Was that a turning point?

I do think that that was the beginning of the war on drugs; at least, they
started to combat the drugs at that moment.

What began to change?

You'd have to change a lot of your methods. We started to run more. Before
that, we lived at peace. But the problems began after Tranquilandia.

Shortly after Tranquilandia, someone made a decision--and it's popularly
thought to be Pablo Escobar--to assassinate Lara Bonilla [the Colombian
Minister of Justice.] What happened, exactly, and what was the significance?

That was Pablo Escobar. . . . Pablo was a very violent man. Pablo was a
rebel, and Pablo did what he wanted to do. At that time, Pablo Escobar had
been very much involved in politics. Lara Bonilla and Pablo Escobar were
political enemies. So I think that they had their own personal problems
beforehand, because they were from different political groups. . . . I
think that it was a personal battle between the two of them.

What did you and your brothers and Pablo Escobar do after the assassination
of Lara Bonilla?

We left. I left for Spain.

But first you went to Panama.

Yes. We went to Panama.

What happened in Panama when you got there and decided to have meetings
with the government?

After Lara Bonilla, we went to Panama, and we tried to make contacts
through the government. . . . We offered the government to stop the
business. No one controls the business. . . . Pablo didn't control it, I
didn't control it, nor the Mexican [Rodriguez Gacha]--nobody controls the
business. The control, the business, exists because of supply and demand.
We offered to the government that, in our respect, we would stop the
business. But when they say that we offered to pay the debt, that was a
total lie. That's a lie.

What did you want in return?

We wanted to live in peace. We wanted to live in peace with our family.

Why was your offer rejected?

. . . I'm not quite sure why they said no after we had talked two or three
times with the people sent from the government. They no longer talked to
us. . . . But it would have been a great moment, and I think a lot of
things would have been done, because after that a lot of violence happened.
That would have been the best thing that could have happened with the
government--for there to be peace. . . .

From what you can remember, what were the points of the proposal that you
made to the United States?

I don't remember, exactly. But we offered to give our strips, our planes,
the routes, and to never traffic again. The offer was basically that. We
would talk to everyone that we knew and ask them not to work in the
business. That was basically the offer. What they said about external debt
was a lie.

You made this offer together with the Mexican, your brothers, and with
Pablo Escobar. Since you were were making a collective offer, could you . .
. correctly be perceived as an organization larger than simply individual
drug traffickers?

At that moment, it wasn't an organization. But we were the most well-known
people in the business at that moment, so we were like the spokespersons
for lot of people. But that wouldn't mean that we were an association. . .
. We were simply the people that were talking, making an offer to the
government on behalf of others.

However, for your offer to work, you needed a lot of control and influence
over the other narcotraffickers. How were you going to accomplish that so
they could stop the business?

Nobody has control of the business. The demand controls the business. But
at that moment, we were the well-known people in the business. And the
violence hadn't really begun back then. . . .

At that point, when you're in Panama and making offers to the government,
how much money had you made in the business? That is, what was your net worth?

I don't know. We had a lot. . . .That business, as much as you produce, you
spend just the same. It's all an illusion. Of course, there are people that
make a lot of money, people that are more organized and spend less. But
that business produces a lot more problems than money.

But at that time, it hadn't produced a lot of problems. Was that the
wealthiest point in your career as a trafficker?

That was a moment when the business was tranquil, and I didn't have a lot
of problems. Perhaps you can say that was a bonanza, although perhaps not
mine. . . .

When you turned yourself in, how much did you confess to having made in the
cocaine business?

I never gave an exact sum. I don't know the exact sum, because you never
know what you made or how much you lost. . . .

At that point, were you worth $50 million?

No. No. The big business of the cocaine is for Americans. The ones that
make the money are in the United States. The United States are the ones
that make the business. The participation for Colombia is very small. . . .
They say that the US makes about $300 billion dollars a year in the cocaine
business. The big business is over there. That's why it won't end. . . .

Why did the violence begin?

Everybody knows that the violence in Colombia was Pablo Escobar. He was the
violence in the business. When he died, the violence in the business was
finished. That's the whole explanation.

You knew Pablo Escobar. You are one of the few people who can understand
why he generated so much violence. . . . Why did he go to these extremes?

Pablo was a big rebel, and he did whatever he wanted. He didn't consult
with anyone for what he wanted to do. Frankly, he intimidated us, and many
other people in Medellin, Cali, and Bogota. He intimidated everyone. It
wasn't just us, but the rest of Colombia and all of the United States. . .
. He thought that whatever he wanted is the way it should be done, and he
didn't ask anyone an opinion. He didn't take anyone into account to do this
or that.

Did he ever ask you your opinion of what he should do?

No, nada.

Did you ever tell him what you thought?

I told him a lot of times; everybody would tell him. But he would not
listen to anyone. He would intimidate you. He killed a lot of his friends.
He killed everyone, even the ones that helped him. . . .

Did you ever complain to him after a murder? Can you remember any specific
incident . . . where you told him that you were concerned about what he had
done? Did you have a confrontation with him? . . .

You couldn't confront Pablo Escobar, because you knew what would happen:
you would die. You couldn't confront him at all. You could perhaps maybe
say, "Listen, Pablo, don't do this, Pablo," but with him directly, no.
There was no way you could confront him. You would lose your life if you
did. He even killed my brother-in-law.

What did you say to Pablo?

I couldn't say anything. I was in prison in Spain when Pablo had him
killed. But I couldn't say anything to him--what could I say to him? The
same thing would happen to me.

Did you discuss extradition with Pablo Escobar? . . .

The biggest enemy was extradition. He worked very much so that there
wouldn't be any extradition. . . .

Why did he fear extradition so much?

Because justice for a Colombian is different than the US and for an
American. . . . Look at all the time Carlos Lehder spent in jail. . . . You
can't avoid that fear of extradition.

Who were "the extraditables" and what was their strategy?

The extraditables were all of us who are asked for in extradition. . . .
That's who the extraditables were. But the group called "the extraditables"
was a nickname that Pablo gave himself, so that he could direct all his
violence and his terrorist actions towards the extradition. It wouldn't
point to him personally, but "the extraditables" terrorist group was Pablo
Escobar.

When you were arrested in 1987 at the toll plaza, you were put in jail.
Then a communiqué was delivered to the home of the newspaper publisher in
Medellín, Goméz Martínez, signed by the extraditables. It said, "If Jorge
is extradited, we will declare total war." In the Americans' view, you are
implicated you as one who advocated violence--violence was being threatened
because of your capture.

. . . The communiqué; that came out within a day or two was certainly
Pablo, because at that time I was isolated. How was I going to do that
communiqué, being isolated, being in the brigade? I didn't know what was
happening. They wouldn't even let me listen to the news. I couldn't do that
communiqué. Certainly that communiqué was made by Pablo. So then, how am I
going to make a communiqué and declare wars if I'm isolated? I didn't know
about that . . . when I came out two or three months later. I didn't know
anything about that.

Who was Barry Seal?

Barry Seal was an American pilot who worked for whoever offered him the
most; he worked for the CIA, for the DEA, for the Sandinistas, for the
traffickers, for everybody.

What was your business with Barry Seal before he became a DEA agent and
informer?

I surely went on some of his routes, but I didn't personally . . . talk
with him or pursue. And he didn't work for me exclusively. He was one of
those pilots who offered his route. . . .

So you paid Barry Seal to run some of your cocaine?

No, I didn't pay him. I never personally paid him anything. I paid whoever
had Barry Seals's route at that time. I don't know who was going to
transport or not. I imagine it was Barry Seal. But I never paid him
anything personally.

But your group used Barry Seal to run your cocaine? . . .

No. No, there was no group, as I explained. Remember, he supposedly signed
with Pablo and the Mexican shipping cocaine, but not with me. I was not
there. . . . He was a pilot of cocaine transportation, and I imagine that
he didn't know who it belonged to at that moment. I didn't know that it
would be him who would take it. One didn't know who it was.

But he certainly knew that he was running Pablo Escobar's cocaine? He was
photographed there in Nicaragua.

Certainly, surely.

. . . Did you and Pablo spoke with the Sandinistas about opening up an
airbase to run cocaine? Did you survey an airstrip and go together to talk
to the Sandinistas?

No. I had already left for Spain. When that happened, I was already in
Spain. I didn't talk with the Sandinistas or with anyone.

Why did you go to Spain?

Because I wanted to go in tranquility and peace. The problems had already
started in Colombia and I left for Spain. At that time I was not working, I
wasn't doing anything. I wanted to live in tranquillity. . . .

What Barry Seal do in Nicaragua, and what happened afterwards?

I don't exactly know what he did in Nicaragua, because I went to Spain and
I stayed in Spain. . . .

Read the interview with Fernando Arenas, a pilot for Carlos Lehder who
claims that the Ochoas had Barry Seal killed.

In Spain . . . you're faced with extradition. How were you able to beat the
Americans?

I think that I won because I was right. . . . God helped me and I was
right. I was being charged with drug trafficking between Colombia and the
United States. And the natural thing is that one should be judged in one's
own country, not in a country that is not one's own. So it was a very hard
legal battle and thank God we won . . . .and I was extradited over here.

How important do you think the so-called "Nicaraguan defense" was in
helping your case--that the drug war had become politicized?

Yes, it was a very important political time . . . The United States tried
to involve Nicaragua in the trafficking of drugs. When I was over there,
they offered that I would have no problems if I declared against the ones
from Nicaragua. But I didn't have anything to do with that drug
trafficking, and I didn't even know if there had been or hadn't been, so I
told them no. But yes, the interest of the United States in my detention in
Spain was that I involve Nicaragua in the trafficking of drugs. That was
something that I didn't know. . . . How was I going to involve them? I was
never in Nicaragua.

What happened with Oliver North?

. . . They involved him in . . . taking cocaine in exchange for weapons to
Nicaragua or vice versa. I don't remember how the thing was. But I remember
about him also.

What do you know about cocaine and the contras?

Nothing.

Do you believe that the contras were making money in the cocaine business?
Did you know any of the Nicaraguen contras who were involved in coming to
Medellín or Calí and arranging for shipments?

No.

What was the involvement of the Cuban authorities in drug trafficking?

I don't know anything about that. When I was in the business, Cuba was not
involved. I wasn't even around for Mexico.

You were not involved with any Mexicans? You never moved drugs through Mexico?

No. . . .

Finally, you win the battle of extradition, a great victory. But did the
violence win?

When we presented ourselves to the law, there was a lot of violence. But
the whole world knew it was Pablo Escobar. We presented ourselves even when
the treaty was in force. They had not removed the treaty. . . . In 1990 we
presented ourselves, and the [extradition] treaty was repealed in 1991. And
so then we were very removed from everything. We were hiding and they were
looking for us at that time to kill us. . . . They weren't looking for us
to extradite us, but to kill us. And I think that we paid very highly for
that.

What is your opinion of the United States?

I think that they are wrong in the manner they handle the problem. That
problem has to be handled with the legalization and with education. Educate
the youth and legalize that. Because that way you can control it. But that
idea of restraining it-- they can't control it.

What is your feeling for the American people?

. . . A very good opinion of the Americans--the best.

During the crack epidemic in the US, violence intensified in many areas of
society. Do you feel any responsibility for what . . . was going on among
the American people, a people that you say are a great people?

I think that we're all at fault, and I also have a lot of fault in it, when
they fall into this drug addiction and the youth becomes involved in that
vice and all. But the responsibility belongs to all of us. They also have a
lot of the responsibility. . . . They produce the weapons for the violence,
and the demand. . . . This is not a problem that is only ours or of
Colombia. It is also a problem of the Americans. And they have a great deal
of responsibility in this problem. . . because that involves a lot of money
and the big business is over there. I think they should try to solve it
from over here as well as from over there. Of course you have to attack the
problem and pursue it politically and all, but the people have to be
educated as well. There is a need to try to stop the demand.

. . . But how do you feel about your role in the business?

I feel very badly for having been in that business and I ask for
forgiveness. I have asked for forgiveness always, and they just gave us the
opportunity to surrender. We say it right there. And to pay for our error,
we paid for it and I paid it and I paid very highly. I hope that the world
will forgive me for it.

Americans feel that you were not sufficiently punished, because you were
able to keep a lot of your money. At least that is what I am told. . . .

. . . I ask for forgiveness for what I did. And I think that it was more
than enough the time that we were in jail. God forgives one, and I think
that people should also forgive us and the Americans also. With the issue
of my brother, the law has to be just and it can't be vindictive. It cannot
be vengeful. I think that they want to take revenge with him or something.
It shouldn't be like that. And my brother is innocent. My brother is surely
innocent. . . .

[Fabio Ochoa was arrested in Colombia in October 1999 as part of a large
drug raid conducted by American and Colombian law enforcement. 30 alleged
traffickers were taken into custody].

What did your career in the cocaine business teach you about life?

That I made a mistake, because that doesn't pay. It was the biggest mistake
that we could have made.

. . . What would your mother and father--especially your mother--say to you
about your business in drugs?

I lived very sadly. My father and my mother, my sisters and everyone was
very sad that we had gotten involved in that business. At any given time,
they could kill us, or they could take us, or they could extradite us, or
they knew that we weren't doing anything good. Everyone in my family lived
very sadly. My father, my mother, everyone. But we have been a very united
family at this time. We are all here, at the . . . the injustice they are
committing with Fabio. And we are seeing everything that we can do. Part of
that is this interview. . . .

[part of a series]

Campaign for the Restoration & Regulation of Hemp's HempTV website now has
the full, two part, total of almost 4 hours of video of the PBS Frontline
"Drug Wars" available on the web for free video streaming using the Real
Player 8.

To watch Part one of Drug Wars, go here:

http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/docs_drugwars1.html

To see part 2, go here:

http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/docs_drugwars2.html

Click this link for an index to this series:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n1551.a01.html