Ochoa’s return marks a significant moment in Colombia’s drug trafficking history, as he reunites with family amidst media attention. Previously a senior lieutenant under Pablo Escobar, his check through Colombian immigration confirms he is not wanted by authorities.
Medellin Cartel's Fabio Ochoa Returns to Colombia After Two Decades in US Prison
Medellin Cartel's Fabio Ochoa Returns to Colombia After Two Decades in US Prison
Fabio Ochoa Vasquez, a key figure in the infamous Medellin drug cartel, arrives in Colombia after serving 20 years in a US jail for drug trafficking.
Fabio Ochoa Vasquez, one of the founding members of the notorious Medellin drug cartel, has returned to Colombia after spending over 20 years incarcerated in the United States for drug trafficking. The 67-year-old was deported by the US government and landed in Bogota on Monday, finally a free man.
Ochoa, who played a pivotal role as a senior lieutenant under infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar, was part of the Medellin cartel that once dominated the cocaine trade and unleashed a violent campaign against the Colombian state prior to Escobar's death in 1993.
Upon his arrival in Bogota, immigration officials processed Ochoa by running his fingerprints through their database, confirming that he is not wanted by any Colombian authorities. The Colombian immigration agency released a statement indicating that Ochoa was “freed to be reunited with his family.” At the airport, he was met with a throng of reporters and was emotionally embraced by his relatives, including his daughter.
Ochoa's journey began in the early 1990s when he served a sentence in Colombia for his cartel activities. In a significant move, he was among the first major traffickers to surrender under a program that offered protections against extradition to the US in exchange for guilty pleas to lesser charges. After being released from prison in 1996, he was re-arrested during the Millennium operation due to his involvement in US cocaine smuggling operations in the late 1990s.
In 2003, he was sentenced in a US court to over 30 years imprisonment for facilitating the cartel's operations, which saw an average of 30 tonnes of cocaine entering the US each month between 1997 and 1999. During the peak of his activities in the 1980s, Ochoa was one of the main operators in Escobar's Medellin ring, catering to 80% of the US cocaine market.
The Medellin cartel, along with its rival Cali cartel, was one of the most powerful and feared drug syndicates of the era, notorious for its violent tactics that included bombings and assassinations. These methods spurred a temporary suspension of extradition agreements between Colombia and the US, which were only resumed in 1997.
