Colombian May Lose Billionaire Status : Raids Strip Drug Baron’s Wealth

BOGOTA, Colombia —  Drug magnate Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha may be losing his billionaire status. Among Colombia’s beleaguered kings of cocaine, Rodriguez Gacha has been hit hardest by an unprecedented campaign of official raids and confiscations over the past two weeks, a high Colombian intelligence official told The Times.

The official said seized properties that belonged to Rodriguez Gacha include at least eight ranches, a radio station, discotheques and taverns, two bus companies and a financial operations center that apparently coordinated multiple non-drug investments--among them a professional soccer team.

Information found in some of the seized properties “has led us to other properties,” said the official, who asked not to be identified for security reasons. Investigators continue to comb through seized papers and computers for data they expect will uncover still larger provinces of Rodriguez Gacha’s vast and intricate business empire.

He Owns 80 Ranches

Among his Colombian investments, useful for “laundering” illicit cocaine profits, are an estimated 80 ranches, dozens of urban buildings, several industrial enterprises and numerous other businesses.

“He is shockingly wealthy,” the intelligence official said.

Rodriguez Gacha is listed among the world’s billionaires by the American business magazine Forbes. So are his associates in the Medellin drug cartel, Pablo Escobar and Jorge Luis Ochoa, whose properties also have been hit by the recent raids, but on a smaller scale.

The three are among a dozen men on the U.S. government’s “most-wanted” list of Colombian drug lords now being hunted by Colombian authorities. Although there have been some reports that the top traffickers could be hiding in neighboring countries, U.S. drug enforcement specialists say that they are still in this country.

Security at Their Properties

“For them it is more comfortable to stay in Colombia because of the security measures that they have established on their properties,” an expert said.

Until the current blitz began, Rodriguez Gacha was secure in his fiefdom of Pacho, a town about three hours north of Bogota and southeast of Medellin. There, he had his radio station, his bus companies, his popular discotheque and several of his ranches.

“He ran the Pacho area,” the intelligence official said. “He is a man who has concerned himself a lot with helping the townspeople. Everyone in Pacho knows him. He is like a politician.”

Rodriguez Gacha, 41 or 42, is nicknamed “The Mexican” because of his well-known fascination with Mexico, Mexican music and Mexican food. Among his confiscated ranches in the Pacho area are ones named Cuernavaca, Chihuahua, Sonora and Mazatlan.

Discotheque and Tavern

And among his seized businesses in the town of 20,000 people are the Chihuahua discotheque and the Mexico tavern. Authorities said he owned several other taverns and discotheques, as well as drugstores, jewelry stores, medical offices and two bus lines that connect Pacho with Bogota and other cities.

Col. Jaime Uscategui, an army commander who helped direct the Pacho raids, said investigators have found evidence that Rodriguez Gacha distributed about $7,000 a day to Pacho residents. On Mazatlan ranch, the army found found large stocks of toys and clothing that apparently were being prepared for delivery as Christmas gifts.

On another ranch, in remote mountains outside Pacho, troops found bank accounts and other business records. They also found a radio communications center with antennas, powerful transmitters and a scanner that could be used for listening to official frequencies.

The communications center was used for coordinating a “private army” of guards and paramilitary forces that patrolled the area for leftist guerrillas and other enemies. Among weapons found were Czechoslovak AK-47 assault rifles and Israeli Uzi machine pistols.

Authorities arrested 26 men, including Freddy Rodriguez Celades, Rodriguez Gacha’s 17-year-old son.

4 Saunas, 2 Pools

In Bogota, authorities seized a palatial compound owned by Rodriguez Gacha that covered a city block. It has four saunas and two swimming pools, and its 10 bathrooms all have gold-plated fixtures.

But the biggest find in Bogota was Rodriguez Gacha’s business administration center on the seventh floor of a high-rise building facing Carrera Septima, one of the city’s busiest avenues.

Press reports say the center, raided Sunday, has 30 computers, 10 fax machines and other modern business equipment. It was the headquarters for a holding company named Coordinadora Comercial Limitada, which controlled at least 50 other corporations.

Documents found include some detailing the dealings of Los Millonarios, the professional soccer club controlled by Rodriguez Gacha.

Construction, Real Estate

Other businesses organized under Coordinadora Comercial include construction, real estate, food manufacturing, air transport, river boat and ranching companies.

Another major blow to Rodriguez Gacha’s business empire was the arrest near Medellin of Luis Fernando Galeano, known as El Negro, said to be his right-hand man and financial manager.

This week, a tape recording of a telephone interview with Rodriguez Gacha has been circulating privately in Bogota. Speaking from an unknown hiding place, he proposed peace talks between cocaine traffickers and authorities, according to people who have heard the tape.

They said he offered on behalf of himself and other leading traffickers to give up their cocaine trade and seized properties if allowed to live in peace, but he warned of increased bloodshed if authorities continue the current crackdown.

In the past week, traffickers have set off a score of terrorist bombs in Medellin in an apparent campaign to undermine public support for the crackdown, which began Aug. 18. That day, assassins believed to be working for traffickers killed the Medellin police commander and Luis Carlos Galan, a leading presidential candidate.

The first major assassination blamed on Colombian drug traffickers was in 1984, when a gunman on the back of a motorcycle assassinated Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla with automatic gunfire.

After that killing, authorities cracked down on drug trafficking, and the top kingpins began their first attempt at peace negotiations with the government. Rodriguez Gacha, then as now, was a leader in the “dialogue” efforts.

In a letter addressed to then-President Belisario Betancur, the traffickers offered to turn over their laboratories, dismantle their illegal organizations and bring their overseas funds back to Colombia in return for amnesty.

Betancur, like current President Virgilio Barco Vargas, rejected the overtures. Eventually, however, official pressure on the traffickers eased, and they continued to increase their wealth and power.