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“You bushed me,” Dario Antonio Úsuga, Colombia’s astir unsafe cause lord amended known arsenic Otoniel, reportedly said erstwhile Colombian authorities descended connected his hideout successful a agrarian portion of Antioquia state past month. Colombia’s Defense Minister Diego Molano told maine successful a caller interrogation that his country’s forces unsocial didn’t bushed him.
The United States and Britain, Molano said, provided cardinal assistance done outer imagery and awesome tracking. Colombian authorities scored a breakthrough successful the multiyear manhunt by tracing shipments of Úsuga’s medicine medicines and specialized, sugar-free nutrient — harboring echoes of the tracking of a courier utilized to uncover the whereabouts of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Molano described Úsuga’s capture arsenic portion of the broader battle connected the Clan del Golfo, the cartel helium headed and which has helped substance grounds cocaine accumulation successful the South American federation of 50 million. Over the people of an hour-long treatment successful Miami, helium shed airy connected the Biden administration’s caller attack to the cause war, the links betwixt combating cause trafficking and fighting climate change, and offered caller insights into the investigation into the assassination of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse, successful which astir 2 twelve Colombian nationals, mostly ex-military personnel, person been charged oregon detained.
This interrogation has been edited for abstraction and clarity.
President Iván Duque has compared the Úsuga apprehension to the decease of the cause baron Pablo Escobar. I recognize medicine medicine for his kidneys led to his capture. How precisely did the pills pb you to him?
Our cognition was planned successful 3 phases astatine the opening of this year. We had to determination him from el Nudo de Paramillo (a mountainous region) wherever helium had been for the past 5 years. It was intolerable to get him determination due to the fact that of the geography. Then we had a coverup cognition to marque him deliberation we were aft him successful different portion of the country, and yet helium felt much comfy to determination to his ain city, San Pedro de Urabá. Through method and quality quality we discovered [that helium was taking these] medicines, and it helped america to localize him and to deploy an cognition with 500 peculiar forces and the police. He was besides asking for nutrient without sugar, and this besides helped. It was a peculiar benignant of food. Everything helium was ordering was without sugar.
What assistance did the Colombians get from the United States?
The quality is that this was a unified and integrated operation. We had the quality and the enactment of the constabulary implicit the past 5 oregon six years, the information of peculiar forces from our army, our aerial force, but besides the enactment of quality from the United States and besides the United Kingdom. In the past 2 oregon 3 years, determination has been truly beardown information and practice with these agencies due to the fact that of the menace helium posed, not lone for Colombia but for narco-trafficking.
Did the United States supply outer images?
Yes, but besides awesome [location]. How to find the calls that helium was making.
How bash you program to forestall the emergence of a replacement person and dismantle the Clan del Golfo?
We are attacking and destroying his concern successful narco-trafficking, not lone the cultivation, but besides the concern and the laboratories that were nether the extortion of the Clan del Golfo. We person captured 28 members of the Clan del Golfo successful 2 regions, and operations continue. We person launched a demobilization programme for radical astatine the basal of the Clan del Golfo, telling them, ‘Look, if you determine to demobilize, participate into this programme wherever you supply information, you cooperate with the justness system, and if you bash it, of people you are going to person immoderate economical benefits.’ We did this antecedently with FARC [guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that disbanded pursuing the 2016 bid accords]. All these marque maine definite that the seizure of Otoniel is the going to beryllium the extremity of the Clan del Golfo.
Why is the Colombian authorities prioritizing extraditing Otoniel to the U.S. alternatively than holding him accountable for his crimes successful Colombia?
He has to beryllium successful jailhouse present [in the United States]. But successful Colombia, we won’t halt the judicial process against him. He has to [make reparations to] his victims and also, aft everything is finished here, helium besides has to travel backmost and to spell to jailhouse and to beryllium successful the justness strategy successful Colombia.
We are going to person 3 large priorities with this caller broad approach: Supply reduction. Control depletion here. But also, the environment. On the extortion of the environment, we already person results. Last [month] we announced a simplification successful astir 20 percent of the deforested country successful Colombia past year. What we privation is not lone to eradicate [coca leafage growing], but to trim the effects of narco-trafficking connected the environment, connected deforestation of the jungle and peculiarly the Amazonian region.
Turning to Haiti: Family members of the Colombian ex-military unit arrested successful the Moïse assassination person said immoderate of the men thought the program was to arrest, not kill, the Haitian president. Can you clarify what these men knew and erstwhile they knew it?
Based connected the accusation that they person provided … they were hired for a ngo and this ngo was evolving and changing during the weeks they stayed [in Haiti]. But astatine the end, presumably, each of them, they knew what was going to hap with the president. And what was the end. But of course, this is thing that has to beryllium demonstrated and verified. But the ngo was changing on the weeks. But astatine the end, astir of them, they knew, adjacent though the ngo changed.
Climate alteration indispensable beryllium portion of our nationalist information policy. For the archetypal clip successful our information policy, we person defined water, biodiversity and the wood arsenic an plus to beryllium protected.
Yet, successful the combat against deforestation successful Colombia, determination person been allegations that members of the subject person forcibly removed farmers and burned their homes.
Before, thing happened to those radical who [moved to] quality preserves oregon areas that person biology protection. Of course, aft this campaign, we decided to spell aft them. And this is thing wherever we had to find a mode due to the fact that they were contiguous successful areas that had to beryllium protected.
Who are you talking about?
The peasants who were informally located successful those areas. And arsenic portion of the operations, we person to destruct [the homes] of those who are successful amerciable activities, successful those areas that person to beryllium environmentally protected. And of course, astatine the aforesaid time, the authorities is processing caller ways and tools to supply them with caller opportunities to modulation to ineligible activities. We person to person instrumentality enforcement successful those areas if we truly privation to beryllium superior astir controlling deforestation.
English (US) ·