SUMMARY

Cali cartel is an organisation involved in the cocaine trafficking business. It has its roots in the south Colombian city of Cali. In the 1980s the cartel had risen to become the main competitor with the Medellin cartel when it comes to trafficking to the US market. The groups were however very different and the Cali cartel was organised by people who approached the drug trafficking more business like than their main rival. Profits often went on to be invested in legitimate business and the leadership was far from as pompous as Pablo Escobar and the others in Medellin cartel. The group was also less involved in violent activities than the Medellin cartel. This also had an impact on the approach of the authorities, who focused far more attention on Medellin than on Cali. With the chase of the Medellin Cali was able to grow and by 1990 it controlled large, and growing, parts of the US cocaine market such as New York. Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, also known as “The Chess Player” and his brother Miguel were the leaders of Cali Cartel.

Following the death of their rival Escobar the Cali cartel was able to seize an even greater portion of the trafficking to the US. In December 1993 it was calculated that approximately 80 percent of the cocaine that was shipped to the US came from the Cali cartel. Their size, however, also increased the efforts of authorities to have them captured and both Rodriguez Orjuela brothers were captured in 1995.

The Cali cartel has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.