SUMMARY
Medellín Cartel was a drug cartel that was founded by Pablo Escobar. Forbes magazine, in 1989, listed Escobar as the seventh richest man in the world, something that was made possible by the cartel that had been built up around him. Starting with petty crime in the 1960s Escobar’s criminal business led to the start of a small criminal organisation. With the increased demand for cocaine in the USA in the 1970s this small criminal organisation was able to benefit and build up its riches. With Escobar as the central piece in the cartel the wealth and power of the Medellín cartel grew to a level where Escobar was not only seemingly above the law in Medellín but also able to bribe key people on the full route for the cocaine smuggling.
Within the Medellín Cartel ‘Los Extraditables’ was an armed organization formed by the drug lord Pablo Escobar and his associates in late 1984 or 1985. The leadership of the cartel; Pablo Escobar, Carlos Lehder, José Rodríguez Gacha, and the brothers Jorge, Fabio, and Juan David Ochoa, had previously been involved in creating MAS (Muerte a Secuestradores, Death to Kidnappers) in December 1981 following the kidnapping of the sister of the Ochoa brothers. The objective of MAS was to fight against the guerrilla forces in the region and their use of kidnappings as a means of funding their struggle against the government. This first MAS organization was soon used as an example in other parts of the country, and at least seven other local paramilitary groups using the name MAS was formed in the ensuing years, often with open support from the Colombian military.
As part of an antinarcotics initiative, Colombia and the USA signed a bilateral Extradition Treaty in 1979, but the Colombian authorities were reluctant to implement the agreement until 1983 when justice minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla publicly endorsed the treaty. Lara was killed by gunmen from the Medellín Cartel in April 1984, which led to a government crackdown that forced the cartel leadership to leave the country. After Jorge Ochoa was arrested in Spain in November 1984, Escobar formed Los Extraditables and threatened "absolute and total war against this countrys political leaders." The political goals of the organization consisted of removal of the extradition treaty and amnesty for the leadership for their crimes.
Los Extraditables consisted almost exclusively of the Medellín drug cartel, and was led by Pablo Escobar until his death in 1993, after which the organization dissolved. In 1987, Lehder was arrested (allegedly after a tip from Escobar), Gacha was killed in 1989, and the Ochoa brothers surrendered to the government in 1990.
The Medellín Cartel has been involved in the non-state and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
