The US justice system sentenced the Colombian drug lord on Tuesday Dairo Antonio Úsuga David, aka “Otoniel”to 45 years in prison for each of the three drug trafficking charges to which he pleaded guilty, though he will serve them simultaneously.

Judge Dora Irizarry, of the Eastern District Court of New York, in Brooklyn, imposed the sentence requested by the prosecution, arguing that this is “undoubtedly one of the most serious cases in terms of drug trafficking” the court has established.

Whoever was Supreme Leader of the Clan del Golfo (CDG), a terrorist, paramilitary and drug trafficking organization accused of being “one of the largest cocaine distributors in the world” from 2012 to 2021, admitted to having 96.8 tons of cocaine in January shipped cocaine to the United States via Central America and Mexico. Although the judge ‘thinks’ that the actual amount is much higher.

Alias ​​Otoniel, former chief of the Clan del Golfo, pleads guilty to cocaine trafficking

Following the sentencing, United States Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a note that “the Justice Department will find and hold to account the leaders of the deadly drug trafficking organizations that harm the American people, wherever they are located. and regardless of how long they last.

It made little sense for Otoniel, bearded and visibly thinner than when he was extradited to New York on May 4, 2022, to “ask an apology from the United States Government, from Colombia and from the victims for the crimes I committed have committed”. have committed” and to make a plea for an end to the armed conflict and a negotiated peace in his country, to soften the judge, who said, looking him in the eye: “I doubt if they hadn’t arrested, he would have put an end to what he was doing.”

Prison and millionaire payment

The penalty includes paying $216 million in damages. Likewise, he will have to serve 5 years of probation.

the conviction of Otoniel, 51, who suffers from two hernias and diverticula, ends an era of powerful drug traffickers who spearheaded the cocaine trade from Colombia; Producer of 90% of the cocaine that reaches the United States.

Before him, bosses like the Mexican sat on the same bench in Brooklyn court Joaquin “Chapo” Guzmansentenced to life imprisonment, or Daniel Rendón Herrera, the boss of Úsuga and founder of the CDG, sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Similarly, the trial of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández is also expected to begin in February for drug trafficking.

“Most dangerous terrorist of the century”

During his “brutal reign” as supreme leader of the CDG, also known as “Los Urabeños”, Otoniel resorted to violence to protect the members of the clan – which numbered some 6,000 -, to silence all witnesses and attack the security forces using an “army of assassins” who “abducted, tortured and murdered the competitors and those they considered traitors to the organization and their families,” the US Justice Department said.

Prosecutor Francisco Navarro said Otoniel is undoubtedly “the most dangerous terrorist in Colombia this century” and as dangerous as Pablo Escobar, one of Colombia’s drug-trafficking legends.

“The defendant,” said Navarro, “did not start the violence, but he took it and expanded it,” he said.

Already out of prison in the United States, As a result of his extradition, the capo showed his power by unleashing a bloody retaliation in 11 of Colombia’s 32 departments, killing five people, including two police officers and a soldier, in attacks on police stations, roadblocks and public transport sabotage.

After years of escaping arrest, Otoniel was detained on October 23, 2021 in the province of Antioquia, near the Panama border.

Three different courts in the United States have been on his trail since 2009.

Almost illiterate, the Colombian started his criminal career as member of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a paramilitary organization that the United States listed as a terrorist organization in 2001.

According to the DEA, the US anti-drug agency, the CDG collaborated with the Mexican cartels of Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación to introduce drugs into the United States.

Outstanding bills in Colombia

Colombian justice also charges him with murder, terrorism, underage recruitment, kidnapping and sex crimes, among other crimes he committed while a guerrilla and paramilitary before becoming Colombia’s most wanted drug trafficker.

Born into a farming family in northwestern Colombia, Úsuga has been accused of abusing girls and adolescents in his sphere of influence.

His sister Nini Johana Úsuga, aka “La Negra”, has also been extradited to the United States to answer for drug trafficking crimes.