The capture of Brian Donaciano Olguín Verdugo, known in the world of drug trafficking as “Pitt”, on the 8th April, uncovered more than a simple arrest, but laid bare what is portrayed as a network structure of Mexican organized crime in Colombia.
The first information indicates that the captured person would be the emissary in Colombia of Ismael Mario Zambada, alias Mayo Zambada, who according to the Mexican authorities is the successor of Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán.
It is no secret to anyone that organized crime in Mexico has links with its Colombian peers, however, Analysts assure that this capture goes beyond intermediation to negotiate the purchase of drugs.
🚨 Captured in Cali alias ‘Pitt’, member of the Sinaloa cartel.
With information from the DEA, through the support interagency, alarms were set off in our country to start the search for the drug trafficker who was captured through an operation coordinated by the 2 countries pic.twitter.com/D3QzmbwQGY
— Security and Justice (@SeguridadCali) April 8, 2022
According to data from InSight Crime, the director of the Colombian National Police, Jorge Luis Vargas, described Olguín as the “main link” of the Sinaloa Cartel with the dissidents of the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that operate in the departments of Cauca, Valle del Cauca and Nariño.
Vargas linked Olguín specifically with the dissident fronts Dagoberto Ramos, Jaime Martínez and Carlos Patiño, led by Miguel Botache Santillana, alias “Gentil Duarte”, and Néstor Gregorio Vera Fernández, alias “Iván Mordisco”.
To say for the journalist and investigator Gabrielle Gorder, the capture of the alleged trafficker from Sinaloa also draws attention to complaints from authorities, think tanks, journalists and local residents about the growing presence of Mexican cartels in Colombia.
🚨Brian Donaciano Olguín Verdugo alias ‘Pitt’, was captured in the building where he was staying during a raid by the @PoliciaColombia, where he was notified of the extradition request issued by the Southern District Court of California for conspiracy to import cocaine pic.twitter.com /FgoKZLPC1x
— Security and Justice (@SeguridadCali) April 8, 2022
Even the presence of intermediaries of Mexican cartels is estimated in 04 of the 32 departments of Colombia, even on the border with Venezuela.
Moreover, there are increasing reports of Mexican influence in the department of Valle del Cauca, which suggests a drug network Mexican, but in South America.
Such an affirmation ion seems to have solidity after the words of the councilman of Cali, Roberto Rodríguez, who declared that there are reasons to believe that there are Mexican actors involved in the planting of coca , raw material for cocaine.
Rodríguez emphasized that Olguín was just one of many Mexican cartel members living in Cali, and that his capture highlights the need for stronger controls at the airports through which these individuals enter Colombia, as well as strong anti-money laundering measures and the purchase of large properties and luxury cars.
The DEA and the Anti-Narcotics Police were able to document the negotiations that were being carried out to send shipments of cocaine through Central America with final destination to the United States. Part of his mission in Colombia was to guarantee the purity of the alkaloid and define whether he would pay for the caches in cash or with weapons.
“Pitt” wields such power in Mexico that he told the Colombian soldiers who captured him that if he were in their country, an armed squad would have freed him in seconds.
And he offered them a bribe of one billion pesos if they let him go free.
This was confirmed by General Vargas himself, who did not hesitate to describe this capture operation as one of the most important blows against drug trafficking: “We believe that this result is the most important in terms of arrests of Mexican cartel delegates who come to commit crimes with drug trafficking from the FARC in Cauca”.
And although their Mexican escorts were in the area, monitoring strange movements of the Police in the sector, they were unable to react.
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