Pseudonym “Otoniel” during his extradition to the United States on May 4, 2022. NATIONAL POLICE IN COLOMBIA (Portal)
The US judiciary on Tuesday sentenced Colombian drug lord Dairo Antonio Úsuga aka Otoniel to 45 years in prison. In January, the former leader of the Clan del Golfo pleaded guilty to directing a criminal drug trafficking organization and to conspiring to import the drugs into the United States. The defense failed in its goal of achieving a sentence of less than 25 years imprisonment.
Prosecutors allege in the indictment that Otoniel led “a terrorist and paramilitary organization” for two decades and missed opportunities to negotiate a demobilization agreement with the Colombian government. “He ordered the killing, kidnapping and torturing of his rivals and individuals he believed to be cooperating with the authorities. His desire for control and revenge cannot be overstated,” reads one of the briefs prosecutors submitted to the court for the Eastern District of New York. The defense then claimed that the former chief of Clan del Golfo grew up in poverty and was a victim of forced conscription as a child. It also referred to the admission of charges in January.
Judge Dora Irizarry declined to reduce the sentence, saying it was the “hardest” case she had faced in her career and stressing that Clan del Golfo violence had caused many deaths in the United States. Likewise, she replied to Otoniel that she also grew up in a difficult environment – the Bronx, a borough of New York – and that this was not a valid excuse for violence. “You can’t cover the sun with a finger,” he told her in Spanish.
Otoniel had a criminal career spanning more than 30 years. Not only was he the leader of the Clan del Golfo, a gang that emerged after the demobilization of paramilitary groups in the government of Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010). He was previously a member of the guerrillas of the People’s Liberation Army (EPL) and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).
The drug lord was captured on Colombia’s border with Panama in late 2021 during the administration of Iván Duque in an operation welcomed by the then Colombian president. Months later, in May 2022, he was extradited to the United States. In retaliation, the Clan del Golfo declared an armed attack that paralyzed much of the country for four days.
The extradition caused controversy as Otoniel faced 122 criminal prosecutions in Colombia, where he has already been convicted six times. The distance makes it much more difficult for him to contribute to the truth and to contribute to the reparation of his victims in the country. Precisely for this reason, Otoniel’s victims refused extradition and even tried to use legal means to stop them, which ultimately failed.
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The then President responded to this criticism. “Once he has served his sentence for drug trafficking, he must come to Colombia to serve the sentences for the crimes he also committed in our country,” Duque said at the time.
One of those opposed to his extradition was current President Gustavo Petro, who had hinted that the former paramilitary chief should appear before Colombia’s transitional justice system. “Duque is afraid of what Otoniel says before the JEP; If not, after his confession, why don’t you extradite him?” comments on the Special Justice for Peace (JEP). Months later, during the election campaign, he emphasized that the victims in Colombia “have the right to know the truth”.
One of the court conditions for Otoniel’s extradition to the United States, a country where he was prosecuted for drug trafficking, was that he not be sentenced to life imprisonment, which the Colombian constitution prohibits. The maximum sentence in the South American country is 50 years.
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