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Oscar Varela García is a villain.
The high-level coordinator of a murderous Colombian cocaine smuggling organization was convicted last Friday in Miami of murder, obstruction of justice and five counts of conspiring to do all kinds of illegal things, including laundering money and distributing cocaine.
Garcia supervised a “large group of executioners and contract killers” known as “Los Machos” who used kidnapping, torture and murder to influence players in the “Colombian cocaine underworld” , according to the US Department of Justice. They were a branch of the Norte Valle cartel, which is accused of more than 1,500 murders in Colombia, according to a 2007 BBC report.
Garcia was captured by the Colombian military and extradited to Miami as part of the FBI’s “Operation Resurrection”, a spectacularly named investigation targeting the cartel.
In addition to monitoring violent actions from all sides for the organization, Garcia was specifically implicated in the murder of an American informant in Colombia – the victim was “lured to a farm,” according to a press release from the ministry. of Justice, then dismembered and thrown into a river. Garcia suggested coercing the man into admitting what he told investigators by breaking his legs with a baseball bat and then squeezing his leg at the broken point.
Not a fun guy to be around.
Although Norte Valle has fallen from power since the 2007 capture of leader Diego Montoya Sánchez, the FBI claims he was responsible for 60% of all Colombian cocaine in the United States at its peak. (For reference: The White House says 90 percent of all cocaine in the United States passes through Colombia.) The group is also charged with 1,500 murders, according to the BBC.
The FBI said during Montoya’s trial that the group was using speedboats to smuggle up to 13,000 pounds of cocaine at a time, being part of a South American market estimated in 2009 to export more than 1 , 3 million pounds of cocaine a year hiding it in shark carcasses. , shipping it in homemade submarines and carving replicas of World Cup trophies, although it is unclear in the latter case if it was for smuggling purposes or just a desperate attempt. to make football more interesting.
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