{"id":543770,"date":"2025-11-02T08:13:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T08:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/543770\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T08:13:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T08:13:16","slug":"soccer-emeralds-and-cocaine-the-new-colombian-drug-lords-with-ties-to-spain-international","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/543770\/","title":{"rendered":"Soccer, emeralds and cocaine: The \u2018new\u2019 Colombian drug lords with ties to Spain | International"},"content":{"rendered":"

One morning 15 years ago, a man hiding his face behind a newspaper surrendered to two U.S. agents in a Panama City cafe. That peaceful arrest \u2014 during which smiles were even exchanged \u2014 was the culmination of months of negotiations between U.S. authorities and one of Colombia\u2019s most powerful drug traffickers. He was accused of flooding drug routes with more than 900 tons of cocaine and laundering billions of dollars. The scene, recounted by Colombian historian Petrit Baquero, marked the demise of Julio Lozano Pirateque, alias \u201cPatricia,\u201d and the organization he led. After being extradited, he served a six-year sentence and fell off the radar, until Colombian President Gustavo Petro<\/a> began publicly accusing him of being the head of a criminal organization that, he claims, is plotting to assassinate him.<\/p>\n

This structure, dubbed by Petro as the \u201cNew Drug Trafficking Board<\/a>\u201d (NJN), is \u2014 according to the president himself \u2014 one of the most dangerous enemies of the Colombian state. Its tentacles extend beyond cocaine: they also reach into the emerald business<\/a>, soccer, and private security companies. And part of its leadership, according to intelligence sources, currently lives in Madrid. The existence and true power of this organization is shrouded in controversy in Colombia.<\/p>\n

The \u201cinvisible narcos\u201d report<\/p>\n

The Colombian intelligence services have just shed more light on this criminal group, which until now operated in the shadows. In a secret report, to which EL PA\u00cdS has had access, the NJN is described as a powerful organization, the heir to a former cartel considered the largest cocaine exporter in Colombian history. The network has taken root in Dubai, Mexico, Turkey, and Spain. Its leaders, unlike the old drug traffickers<\/a>, have always been discreet and prefer to be seen as executives rather than gangsters. The dossier calls them \u201cinvisible narcos.\u201d<\/p>\n

The document, prepared by the National Intelligence Directorate, is being made public at a time of heightened regional tension. The White House accuses Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro of being the leader of the Cartel of the Suns<\/a>, a supposed criminal group flooding the United States with drugs. However, Petro maintains that the Cartel of the Suns does not exist and that the drug traffickers are, in fact, the NJN. According to the Colombian president, this theory undermines the United States\u2019 main argument for surrounding Venezuela with a large-scale military operation aimed at overthrowing Maduro.<\/p>\n

Now, the U.S. administration has also linked Petro to similar businesses \u2014 Trump has called him an \u201cillegal drug leader<\/a>\u201d without justifying his reasoning \u2014 and has sanctioned him, along with his family and top advisor, through the Treasury Department. Petro, however, claims to be a victim of criminal organizations, primarily the NJN, which he has alluded to dozens of times in his tweets and speeches.<\/p>\n

Many have questioned the information about this criminal group. In June, the Colombian Prosecutor\u2019s Office assured EL PA\u00cdS that it had no proof of its existence, and the police chief himself acknowledged that he lacked \u201cconclusive evidence\u201d regarding a network with that name. But since then, some Colombian media outlets have revealed intelligence information that has provided clues about who might be part of the NJN. This new 21-page report \u2014 which includes dozens of names, organizational charts, and connections to criminals, soccer clubs, and companies \u2014 provides fresh information about this elusive organization.<\/p>\n

The document attributes a dozen recent murders to the network \u2014 including that of a millionaire emerald miner, who was killed by a sniper in April \u2014 although it does not mention any plot against the Colombian president. Intelligence sources acknowledge that \u201cthere is no information to support this criminal group\u2019s intention to kill Petro,\u201d although the president, with information from other state institutions, insists on his accusation. \u201cThey must be investigated. That\u2019s the order I gave to the police, but it must be passed on to the Attorney General\u2019s Office, which is intimidated,\u201d he said last Tuesday. According to the Colombian president, the NJN was also behind the fatal attack against opposition presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay<\/a> in June, although there is no known evidence to support this.<\/p>\n

The report from the National Intelligence Directorate is a snapshot of an organization that collapsed with the arrest and extradition of its leaders 15 years ago and has been resurrected by adapting to changing times: From Pablo Escobar<\/a> in the 1980s to drug lords directly involved in \u201cvarious political, economic, and social sectors\u201d and operating legal and illegal businesses around the world.<\/p>\n

The organization is not as hierarchical as the old cartels and is reportedly led by five \u201cstrategic\u201d leaders, including Julio Lozano Pirateque, the man who once waited for his arrest behind a newspaper. This former drug trafficker, linked to emerald mining since childhood, has assured Colombian authorities that he is disconnected from his former businesses and has denied any attempt to assassinate the Colombian president, according to intelligence sources confirmed to EL PA\u00cdS.<\/p>\n

Petro has been dedicating lengthy tweets to the NJN for months. He has described it as a network with \u201cstrong infiltration of the state\u201d that reportedly gives orders to other powerful groups like the Gulf Clan<\/a>. The report contains no information to confirm this theory, nor does it quantify its power and economic activity, but it does note that at least one of the leaders \u201cmay have a direct line\u201d to the leader of this armed group, the largest in Colombia.<\/p>\n

The NJN map has some countries marked in red. According to intelligence services, Dubai allegedly served as a \u201cremote coordination center\u201d for drug trafficking and money laundering activities while Lozano Pirateque resided there. But today, attention has shifted to Madrid, where the alleged drug trafficker reportedly settled.<\/p>\n

Spain, center of operations<\/p>\n

Another alleged ringleader \u2014 Jorge Gonz\u00e1lez, alias \u201cJ. la Firma,\u201d currently indicted for drug trafficking offenses in Spain \u2014 lives in the Spanish capital. The NJN also has ties to Alejandro Salgado Vega, alias \u201cEl Tigre,\u201d considered by the Spanish National Police to be one of the \u201cmost well-known and powerful drug traffickers in Spain,\u201d who has been located in Dubai. El Tigre, investigated in the case of a high-ranking Spanish police official who was arrested with several million euros hidden in his home, is believed to be the organization\u2019s link with European mafias. Another key figure is Rutdy Alirio Z\u00e1rate, alias \u201cRuncho,\u201d identified as the boss of trafficking between Colombia and Spain.<\/p>\n

In parallel, Turkey is consolidating its position as the organization\u2019s \u201cnew haven,\u201d while logistics and trade expand through Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Venezuela, and even Australia.<\/p>\n

A good part of the NJN\u2019s criminal operations are intertwined with legitimate businesses. Several leaders and their associates compete for the speculative emerald market, which exported $127.5 million in 2024<\/a>, according to the National Mining Agency. \u201cTheir business conglomerate facilitated the legalization of money laundering,\u201d the report states. But Colombian intelligence points to other businesses they may be using to launder money and obtain weapons: soccer \u2014 photos of the presidents of two clubs appear in the report \u2014 and private security companies.<\/p>\n

The NJN model fits well into the criminal network now operating in Colombia, where the major drug trafficking clans have been replaced by dozens of organizations in which criminals from around the world operate. \u201cColombians have lost the major drug routes to major consumer markets,\u201d explains historian Petrit Baquero. \u201cWe have a completely fragmented landscape. Colombia is full of Albanian, Italian, Belgian, and, of course, Latin American drug traffickers who are integrated into the different links of the production and export chain.\u201d For Baquero, this fragmentation is an example of the \u201cfailure\u201d of the anti-drug policies implemented over the past 50 years. \u201cWith more than 50 groups involved in different links of the business, the fight against drug trafficking is unmanageable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up for our weekly newsletter<\/a> to get more English-language news coverage from EL PA\u00cdS USA Edition <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One morning 15 years ago, a man hiding his face behind a newspaper surrendered to two U.S. agents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[25911,2000,299,62884,5479,174940,37887,140917,104,14736],"class_list":{"0":"post-543770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-colombia","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-gustavo-petro","12":"tag-madrid","13":"tag-miguel-uribe","14":"tag-nicolas-maduro","15":"tag-pablo-escobar","16":"tag-spain","17":"tag-washington-d-c"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115479104913502056","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}