By The Opinion
The United States Department of Justice announced this Friday new charges related to terrorism against the leader of the Gulf Clanthe largest prison gang in Colombia, Jobanis de Jesús Ávila Villadiegoalias “Bad guy”.
The Prosecutor’s Office for the Eastern District of New York indicated in a statement that three crimes were added yesterday to the indictment of “Chiquito malo”, which has been modified several times: conspiracy for narcoterrorism, provision of material support to a foreign terrorist group, and conspiracy to commit the latter activity.
The 49-year-old man, who is a fugitive, has previously been accused of operating a prison company, trafficking cocaine and using firearms as head of the Gulf Clan, designated a terrorist group by the US, from October 2021 to April 2026, the note indicates.
“For the Gulf Clan, narcotics trafficking and terrorism are two sides of the same coin of instability”said the district attorney, Joseph Nocella, who stressed that the United States seeks to stop these two scourges and hold them accountable in the country’s system.
“Chiquito malo” assumed power in the band after the arrest of the previous leader, Dairo Antonio Usuga Davidalias “Otoniel”, in October 2021, and has “continued to be involved in shipments of several tons of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico and Central America for ideal importation into the US,” maintains the Prosecutor’s Office.
Under the command of the boss, the armed gang commits murders, kidnappings and violent acts to protect itself and attack the authorities, and exercises control over a large territory of Urabá, in the border region of Antioquia, where it coordinates its drug trafficking business, the note explains.
The new accusation is the result of collaboration between several US agencies, including Homeland Security, Justice, Anti-Narcotics and the FBI, and Colombian authorities.
Ávila Villadiego was among the names of several drug trafficking bosses that the Government of Colombia handed over to the United States last February after the meeting between its presidents, Gustavo Petro and donald trumpin the White House, and which temporarily interrupted the peace talks.
“Otoniel” was extradited to New York in 2022 and pleaded guilty in 2023 to operating a prison company, for which he was sentenced to forty-five years in prison.
Keep reading:
– “Amaury”, an important drug trafficker of the Gulf Clan wanted by the US, was captured in Colombia.
– What is the Clan del Golfo, the armed group that the US designated as a terrorist organization in Colombia.
