The Cali Cartel was a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca. Its founders were the brothers Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela and José Santacruz Londoño. They broke away from Pablo Escobar and his Medellín associates in 1988, when Hélmer "Pacho" Herrera joined what became a four-man executive board that ran the cartel.
Ernesto Samper Pizano is a Colombian politician. Samper is a member of the influential Samper family. He served as the President of Colombia from 1994 to 1998, representing the Liberal Party. From 2014 to 2017 he served as the Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).
Gilberto José Rodríguez Orejuela was a Colombian drug lord and one of the leaders of the Cali Cartel. Orejuela formed the cartel with his brother, Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, José Santacruz Londoño, and Hélmer Herrera. The cartel emerged to prominence in the early 1990s, and was estimated to control about 80% of the American and 90% of the European cocaine markets in the mid-1990s. Rodríguez Orejuela was captured after a 1995 police campaign by Colombian authorities and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He obtained early release in 2002, and was re-arrested in 2003, after which he was extradited to the United States. There, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, where he died in 2022.
José Santacruz Londoño was a Colombian drug lord. Along with Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, and Hélmer Herrera Buitrago, Londoño was a leader of the Cali Cartel.
Horacio Serpa Uribe was a Colombian lawyer, politician and Senator. Serpa ran as the Colombian Liberal Party candidate for President on three occasions; in 1998, 2002, and 2006. He previously served as congressman for Santander as Senator, Inspector General of Colombia, president of the National Constituent Assembly, Minister of the Interior, and as Ambassador to the Organization of American States. He was also involved in the 8000 process scandal in which money from the Cali Cartel entered the presidential campaign of Liberal candidate Ernesto Samper. In 2007 Serpa ran for the governorship of Santander Department and was elected on 28 October in the regional elections.
The FARC-Government peace process (1999–2002), from January 7, 1999, to February 20, 2002, was a failed peace process between the Government of President Andrés Pastrana Arango and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group in an effort to bring to an end the ongoing Colombian armed conflict.
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Orejuela is a convicted Colombian drug lord, formerly one of the leaders of the Cali Cartel, based in the city of Cali. He is the younger brother of Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela. He married Miss Colombia 1974, Martha Lucía Echeverry.
Fernando Botero Zea is a businessman and liberal politician of dual Colombia and Mexican nationalities, mainly known for having served as Minister of National Defense of Colombia and also for being an important businessman based in Mexico City. He is the son of Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero and cultural promoter and icon Gloria Zea.
Victor Julio Patiño Fomeque is a Colombian narcotrafficker member of the Cali Cartel and Norte del Valle Cartel, currently active again in the narcotics trade after serving six years in prison in the United States. Patiño was responsible for ensuring the security and effectiveness of the Cali Cartel's maritime operations of drug shipments. He surrendered to Colombian authorities on June 24, 1995, and was sentenced to 12 years' in prison.
The Great Alliance for Change was a political alliance between parties in Colombia during the 1998 Colombian presidential election that supported the presidency of Andres Pastrana Arango against the campaign of Colombian Liberal Party presidential candidacy of Horacio Serpa, back then supported by the presidency of Ernesto Samper.
Luis Alfredo Ramos Botero is a Colombian politician. Most recently, he was the Governor of the Department of Antioquia from 2008 to 2011.
Narcos is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, and Doug Miro. Set and filmed in Colombia, seasons 1 and 2 are based on the story of Colombian narcoterrorist and drug lord Pablo Escobar, leader of the Medellín Cartel and billionaire through the production and distribution of cocaine. The series also focuses on Escobar's interactions with drug lords, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents, and various opposition entities. Season 3 picks up after the fall of Escobar and continues to follow the DEA as they try to shut down the rise of the infamous Cali Cartel.
The third and final season of Narcos, an American crime thriller drama streaming television series produced and created by Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, and Doug Miro, follows the story of the Cali Cartel. Pedro Pascal reprises his role from the previous two seasons.
Carlos Holmes Trujillo García was a Colombian dynasty politician, diplomat, scholar, and attorney who served as minister of defense, foreign affairs, interior, and education. He also served as the mayor of Cali and as ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), the European Union, and a number of nations.
Jorge Salcedo Cabrera is a Colombian civil engineer, countersurveillance specialist, and former head of security for Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela and the Cali Cartel who turned confidential informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration. His information on the cartel—Operation Cornerstone—led to its eventual disbandment, as a result of which Salcedo and his family have entered the United States Federal Witness Protection Program.
Guillermo Alejandro Pallomari González, nicknamed Reagan, is a Chilean accountant who worked for the Cali Cartel and participated in a scandal involving financial fraud during the 1994 Colombian presidential election that bestowed Ernesto Samper as winner of the respective elections. Pallomari is currently under the Witness Protection Program of the United States.
Elizabeth Montoya de Sarria was allegedly an emissary from the Colombian drug-trafficking Cali Cartel to the then-Colombian president, Ernesto Samper's, 1994 presidential campaign. Her husband, Jesus Amado Sarria Agredo, was convicted of drug trafficking and a former police officer was accused of having ties with the cartel. De Sarria was implicated in accusations of illegal funding of Samper's campaign after tapes of two phone calls between them and the campaign treasurer Santiago Medina were published by the Bogota magazine Semana. Jesus Sarria was later found not guilty after further investigation and absolved of all accusations.
José Orlando Henao Montoya, also known by the nicknames 'Don H' and El Hombre del Overol, was a Colombian drug lord who was one of the leaders of the notorious Norte del Valle Cartel along with his brothers and associates like Iván Urdinola Grajales. During his career he was considered an extremely cunning criminal and in the words of his former associates the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers "More bloodthirsty than Pablo Escobar".
Events of 1996 in Colombia.
