Colombian admiral arrested in drug probe

[Judi Lynn]

Colombian admiral arrested in drug probe
June 19, 2008 - 8:47pm

By VIVIAN SEQUERA
Associated Press Writer

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Colombia's chief prosecutor ordered the arrest Thursday of a cashiered navy rear admiral on charges he helped drug traffickers.

Rear Adm. Gabriel Arango was fired in August over accusations that traffickers paid him for information on the movements of drug patrols off Colombia's Caribbean coast.
(snip)

The arrest is part of a larger investigation by authorities into links between Colombia's armed forces and drug trafficking.

Colombia's military is a major recipient of U.S. aid to combat the world's largest cocaine industry.


http://www.wtop.com/?nid=105&sid=1425428

[Judi Lynn]

1. Latin America: Colombian Admiral Fired in Growing Probe of Military Drug Corruption

Latin America: Colombian Admiral Fired in Growing Probe of Military Drug Corruption
8/17/07

A Colombian rear admiral who served along the country's Caribbean coast was removed from his post Monday for alleged links to drug traffickers. Rear Admiral Gabriel Arango is only the latest in a series of military officers investigated in what has become a widening probe of connections between the military and the country's powerful drug trafficking organizations.

"There is a very advanced investigation currently under way regarding Arango's illegal activity," Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said in an interview with RCN Radio. "I cannot deny that the investigation is related to the drug trade and that several other members of the navy appear to be involved."

Arango protested his innocence, pointing to his record in seizing drugs as a naval commander. "Never in my life have I been linked to any drug traffickers," he told Caracol Radio.

It's not just the navy. Colombian prosecutors are currently investigating at least eight army officers for alleged collaboration with the Norte del Valle cartel, the country's most violent drug trafficking organization.

The Colombian military has been the recipient of billions of dollars in US counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency aid under Plan Colombia. But coca and cocaine production have remained relatively steady despite the billions.

That's because there are too many vested interests benefiting from the drug trade and the drug war in Colombia, a now-imprisoned former paramilitary commander told Reuters this week. Salvatore Mancuso, former leader of the murderous Northern Bloc paramilitary drug trafficking organization who surrendered in a sweetheart deal in 2004, said those vested interests include politicians and military officers who collude with drug smugglers, contractors connected to a multibillion-dollar US anti-narcotics program, and companies that sell chemicals used to process cocaine.

More:
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/498/colombian_admiral_fired_over_drug_corruption_allegations



Rear Admiral Gabriel Arango