page_title: Cali Cartel
section_title: Foundation of the Orejuela
hierarchical_section_title: Cali Cartel / Foundation of the Orejuela
caption_attribution_description: English: http://www.dea.gov/pubs/history/1990-1994.html
context_page_description: The Cali Cartel was a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca Department. Its founders were the brothers Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, and José Santacruz Londoño. They broke away from Pablo Escobar and his Medellín associates in the late 1980s, when Hélmer "Pacho" Herrera joined what became a four-man executive board that ran the cartel.
  With connections to British and Israeli mercenaries, allies among countries, countless spies and informants in the government, and its vast intelligence and surveillance network throughout the city of Santiago de Cali, the cartel was once renowned and compared to the KGB by the DEA.
  At the height of the Cali Cartel's reign, they were cited as having control over 90% of the world's cocaine market and were said to be directly responsible for the growth of the cocaine market in Europe, controlling 90% of the market there as well. By the mid-1990s, the trafficking empire of the Cali Cartel was a multibillion-dollar enterprise.
context_section_description: The Cali Cartel was formed by the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers and Santacruz, all coming from what is described as a higher social background than most other traffickers of the time. The recognition of this social background was displayed in the group's nickname as "Los Caballeros de Cali" ("Gentlemen of Cali"). The group originally assembled as a ring of kidnappers known as "Las Chemas", which was led by Luis Fernando Tamayo García. Las Chemas were implicated in numerous kidnappings including those of two Swiss citizens: a diplomat, Herman Buff, and a student, Zack "Jazz Milis" Martin. The kidnappers reportedly received $700,000 in ransom, which is believed to have been used to fund their drug trafficking empire.
  The assembled group first involved itself in trafficking marijuana. Due to the product's low profit rate and large amounts required to traffic to cover resources, the fledgling group decided to shift their focus to a more lucrative drug, cocaine. In the early 1970s, the cartel sent Hélmer "Pacho" Herrera to New York City to establish a distribution center. This action came during a time when the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was not fully pursuing cocaine and viewed the drug as less critical than heroin; at one point they released a report stating cocaine "is not physically addictive ... and does not usually result in serious consequences, such as crime, hospital emergency room admissions or both".
  The Cali Cartel leadership comprised Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, José Santacruz Londoño and Hélmer Herrera Buitrago. Some top associates were Victor Patiño Fomeque, Henry Loaiza Ceballos, ex-guerrilla José Fedor Rey, and Phanor Arizabaleta-Arzayus.
caption: Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela
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