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| Diego Rastrojo |
From 2006 onwards, the Rastrojos left their traditional hub along the Pacific Coast and began operating in more than a third of Colombia’s 32 provinces, rising to become arguably the country's most powerful criminal group by 2008. However, the group's position has slipped since then, with a growing divide between two rival factions, and the fall of three of its main leaders. Javier Calle Serna, alias "Comba," surrendered to the United States in May 2012, and Diego Perez Henao, alias "Diego Rastrojo," was captured the following month. In October 2012, Comba's brother, Luis Enrique, also handed himself to US authorities, leaving the group with no clear leader.
The group is primarily engaged in exporting cocaine to international markets, as well as extortion, gold mining and kidnapping at the local level. The Rastrojos move drugs primarily up the Pacific Coast to Central America and Mexico where they sell it to Mexican drug traffickers, who take it to the United States. They also have control of one of the primary smuggling routes into Venezuela, which is a bridge for cocaine moving towards Europe and northwards into the US on aircraft and go-fast boats.
The Rastrojos' strongholds are primarily in the area where they formed: Valle del Cauca and Cauca provinces along the Pacific coast (see map). They also have a presence in Antioquia, Bolivar, Cesar, Choco, Cordoba, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, Santander and Valle del Cauca.
The Rastrojos' other main ally, Daniel Barrera Barrera, alias "El Loco," had struck similar agreements with the FARC in some areas prior to his capture in Venezuela in September 2012. Together the Rastrojos and Barrera obtained a huge competitive advantage, one that also led to strong partnerships with Mexican cartels.
The Rastrojos and Barrera moved cocaine via go-fast boats and semi submersibles from the Pacific side of their operations, and airplanes via the Venezuelan side. There is some evidence that these semi-submersibles may be being replaced by fully submersibles. In July 2010, authorities in Ecuador found a 33-meter submarine capable of moving at least 10 tons of cocaine. On the Venezuelan side, the airplanes appear to fly due north over Venezuelan territory, in order to avoid Colombian radar, until they are close to the Dominican Republic. Then, they head west until they reach Honduras or Guatemala where they land and offload the narcotics which continue their journey north.
Diego Perez Henao, alias 'Diego Rastrojo,' was the military head of the Rastrojos, a criminal syndicate whose reach stretches across Colombia, and into Ecuador and Venezuela. He was captured in Venezuela on June 3, 2012.A longtime hitman who rose through the ranks of the Norte del Valle Cartel (NDVC), Perez specialized in collecting coca in rural areas and setting up laboratories to turn it into cocaine. He soon came the attention of Wilber Varela, one of the leaders of the NDVC. When Varela began a war with a rival member of the NDVC, Diego Montoya, alias "Don Diego," he turned to Perez to set up a private army and named it after his underworld alias, "Rastrojo." In 2002 the Rastrojos were born and Perez led the war against Montoya's private army, called the "Machos," a war which he ended up winning.
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| Luis Enrique |
Javier Calle Serna, alias 'Comba,' has surrendered to US authorities, possibly creating a seismic shift in the Colombian underworld. The details of the agreement between Comba and the DEA may never be known. But the terms were obviously favorable enough for Comba to leave Argentina, where it appears the negotiations took place, and go to the Caribbean island of Aruba. There he surrendered to DEA agents and was flown to New York, according to press reports.
The last known leader of the Rastrojos drug gang, Luis Enrique Calle Serna, has handed himself in to the US, raising the likelihood this once mighty trafficking organization could be seeing its final days. Calle Serna delivered himself to US authorities in Panama on October 2, and was immediately transferred to a New York jail, reported Semana. He had been negotiating with US authorities for some time -- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos confirmed in February that Calle Serna and his brother Javier, alias “Comba,” were seeking to surrender.
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| Edison Antonio Pelaez, aka 'Mincho' |