Costa del Sol
U.S. Treasury links Málaga companies with Colombian drugs cartel
By m.p. - Nov 11, 2009 - 1:57 PM
email this article
Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, ex leader of the Cali cartel - EFE
10 companies have had their assets in the U.S. frozen for alleged links to the Cali cartel
The United States Treasury Department announced this Tuesday that it has imposed sanctions on 14 people and 25 companies in Colombia, Spain and Holland for suspected links to Colombia’s Cali drugs cartel. EFE has revealed that the suspected links in Spain relate to 10 Málaga-based companies connected to two Spaniards, Laureano Ramos Rodríguez and Marco José Fernández Montero, who are believed to be key members of the financial network.
The action taken by the U.S. government prohibits any Americans from business deals with the suspects and companies named, and freezes any assets they may have in United States territory. The companies in Málaga province are located in Marbella, Fuengirola, San Pedro de Alcántara and Campanillas.
The Málaga companies are said to be linked to Hernando Mejía Uribe, a Colombian national who is thought to have been the link between the networks in Spain, Holland and Colombia, in hiding the assets of the cartel's former bosses, Gilberto and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, and their families. The two brothers are in prison in the U.S., where they are serving sentences for money laundering and drug trafficking.
Mejía Uribe was arrested in Colombia in February this year on charges of money laundering.