Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez (born September 30, 1950) is a Colombian former drug trafficker who was a founding member of the infamous Medellín Cartel in the late 1970s. The main members of the cartel were Pablo Escobar, Carlos Lehder, José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, Gustavo Gaviria, Jorge Ochoa and his brothers Juan Ochoa and Fabio Ochoa.
Early years and the creation of the Medellín Cartel
Jorge Luis Ochoa Vázquez was the son of Fabio Ochoa Restrepo whose family was involved in livestock farming and family restaurants until they started dealing in narcotics in the mid-1970s. At 6 feet tall, Jorge looked very much like a plump, prosperous businessman. He reportedly never used cocaine and only drank the occasional glass of wine. He raised prized fighting bulls on his ranch in Los Lamos and collected Harley Davidson motorcycles. In 1976, Ochoa took over management of what was essentially an Ochoa family business. His contact in Miami was Rafael Cardona Salazar at least from 1978 onwards. Between 1981 and 1982, an alliance between the Ochoa family, Pablo Escobar, Carlos Lehder and Rodríguez Gacha strengthened into what eventually became known as the Medellín Cartel. The traffickers cooperated in the production, distribution and marketing of their cocaine. In 1981, the kidnapping of Ochoa’s sister, Martha Nieves Ochoa Vasquez, by the Colombian guerrilla organization M-19 consolidated their alliance. The traffickers formed a group known as Muerte a Secuestradores (“Death to Kidnappers”) and announced the impending execution of any guerrilla kidnappers. After being threatened with reprisals, the M-19 released Martha Nieves unharmed several months later.
John Jairo Velásquez (“Popeye”), one of the main paid assassins of Pablo Escobar Gaviria, argued in an interview that Jorge Luis Ochoa Vázquez was actually Pablo Escobar Gaviria’s boss.
1984–1986
On April 30, 1984, Colombian Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, who had waged a crusade against the Medellín Cartel, was assassinated by a narco-hitman. President Belisario Betancur, who had previously opposed the extradition of drug traffickers to the United States, announced that “we will extradite Colombians.” Carlos Lehder was the first to be placed on the list. The crackdown forced Jorge Ochoa, Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha to flee to Panama for several months. While in Panama, Ochoa and Pablo Escobar met with former Colombian President Alfonso Lopez Michelsen and offered their fortune to avoid extradition. President Belisario Betancur refused, and a few months later Escobar was indicted for the murder of Lara Bonilla, while the Ochoa brothers and Rodriguez Gacha were named as material witnesses.
On July 17, 1984, The Washington Times published a story detailing DEA informant Barry Seal’s successful infiltration of the Medellín Cartel’s operations in Panama. The story was leaked by Oliver North to expose the Nicaraguan Sandinistas’ involvement in the illegal drug trade. Ten days later, Carlos Lehder, Pablo Escobar, Jorge Ochoa and Rodriguez Gacha were indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami based on evidence obtained by Seal. On November 15, 1984, Jorge Ochoa was arrested by Spanish police in Madrid on a US arrest warrant, and both the US and Colombia requested his extradition. Shortly afterwards, the Medellín Cartel publicly threatened to kill ten Colombian judges for every Colombian extradition.
Ochoa was responsible for coordinating operations in the United States and Western Europe on behalf of the Medellín Cartel. He claimed that in the early 1980s (until his arrest in 1984), he shipped an average of six tons of cocaine per month. Ochoa had also invested in large properties in Repelon, Atlántico Department, and Acandi in Uruba, Chocó Department, from where drugs were shipped to the United States. He was also co-owner of the ill-fated Banco Ganadero (Gandero Bank), where he was represented on the board of directors by Federico Molina. Molina was also his deputy on the board of Fedegan, the Antioquia cattle federation and the state-owned company Vecol.
After 1986
On November 18, 1986, a Miami grand jury charged Ochoa with conspiring to import 1,452 pounds of cocaine through Nicaragua in collaboration with Federico Vaughan, an aide to Nicaraguan Interior Minister Tomás Borge.
On July 14, 1986, a Spanish court decided to extradite Ochoa to stand trial in Colombia. Once in Colombia, on August 17, 1986, Ochoa disappeared despite U.S. extradition requests after receiving a suspended sentence on charges of falsifying documents to import fighting bulls from Spain.
On November 21, 1987, Jorge Ochoa was held in prison on charges of bull smuggling, for which he was extradited from Spain. Twenty-four hours later, a gang of thugs arrived at the home of Juan Gómez Martínez, the editor of Medellín’s daily newspaper El Colombiano. They presented Martínez with a communiqué signed by “The Extraditables,” threatening the execution of Colombian political leaders if Jorge Ochoa was extradited. On December 30, 1987, Ochoa was released from prison on a habeas corpus petition.
