President Abelardo de la Espriella means business when it comes to his war against the cartels. Colombia's new president, known by the nickname of ‘El Tigre’, was voted in on a law and order ticket and so far his actions in fighting the cartels are seemingly paying dividends — not just in Colombia but in Washington too. Recently, he arrived at the Barranquilla police command around the early hours of the morning as 587 police officers and soldiers raided 50 locations across the Caribbean port city and its suburbs in Operation Blindaje 360.
A few days earlier, domestic Colombian news outlets had widely publicized a recording intercepted by Colombian police of "Keko", the alleged leader of a gang called "Los del Freseo" boasting that de la Espirella had nothing on him. "The Tiger's got nothing. Let him come out, and we'll put lead in him," Keko allegedly said on the recording.
Then, before dawn, Colombia's president had tracked him down and was face to face with him, all caught on tape. According to a video released by his presidential office, El Tigre told Keko the gang leader was "a tough guy on the phone… but the look of the fear on his face matched that of his many victims". The sweep ended with 72 arrests.
ANTI-CARTEL HARDLINER CHANNELS TRUMP IN BID TO END COLOMBIA'S LEFTIST ERA IN PIVOTAL ELECTION The theatrics played to a large audience who long argued that former leftist Gustavo Petros’s policy of pursuing engagement with drug traffickers and through conversation and peace talks had left Colombia more vulnerable to organized crime and further articulation between Colombian and Venezuelan cartels that had been dominating the space left by the power vacuum which emerged from effective law-enforcement control. His government is also seeking to reverse former President Gustavo Petro’s "total peace" policy, which pursued negotiations with several armed organizations. Before taking office, de la Espriella announced that he would dismantle key elements of the policy and reactivate arrest warrants against members of illegal armed groups.
Nearly three months into his term, the 48-year-old lawyer has scrapped his leftist predecessor's "total peace" talks, ordered every armed group treated as a terrorist organization and claims more than 32,000 arrests. He is doing it arm in arm with Washington. A dual U.S.-Colombian citizen who lived in Miami before running for president, he has brought Colombia into President Donald Trump's anti-cartel coalition.
Last month, he personally handed a guerrilla boss accused of supplying Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel to DEA agents with his hands and feet shackled. The prisoner, Geovany Andrés Rojas, alias "Araña," is alleged to have led the "Comandos de la Frontera" dissidents and now faces narco-terrorism charges in Southern California. "The option of dialogue is completely exhausted," de la Espriella told troops after his Aug. 7 inauguration.
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