Barranquilla, Colombia

The North Coast Cartel is the last of the four cartels believed to be derived from the legendary “XII Santos.” Their base of operations is located in the city of Barranquilla on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. It was headed by Alberto Orlandez-Gamboa, nicknamed Caracol (meaning “snail”), until his arrest in June 1998. During his reign at head of the cartel he was known to be as unmerciful and remorseless as Pablo Escobar of the Medellin Cartel. Although Caracol could have waged war on other drug trafficking organizations operating near his established headquarters or even on the same portion of coast, he instead decided to use his power and dominance to his monetary advantage.  Neighboring cartels and smaller groups respected his power and business and were therefore willing to pay the supposed tax he charged them in order to ship from the North Coast. In essence, Caracol completely controlled the area through the threat of his wrath if any were to disobey his wishes and rules. His retributions were so feared that other organizations even asked his permission before carrying out an assassination.

Here we see another element of movement in the Colombian violent drug wars that has yet to be directly identified: fear. If fellow drug smuggling operations were afraid of Caracol, it is without a doubt that regular citizens in the area lived in fear of this man and obstructing his operations. His reputation had spread throughout the region, doubtlessly having serious effects on the lives of the Colombian North Coast dwellers. Again, the consequences of the violent drug wars in Colombia reach farther and farther out into the world.

Picture:  Alberto Orlandez-Gamboa ("Caracol")