Jorge Luis Ochoa
The plump businessman who ran the Medellín Cartel's global logistics from his bull ranch.
Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez (born 30 September 1950) is a Colombian former drug trafficker who was one of the founding members of the Medellín Cartel in the late 1970s. Standing 6 feet (1.8 m) and weighing 225 pounds (102 kg), Jorge looked very much like a plump, prosperous businessman. He reportedly never used cocaine and drank only an occasional glass of wine. He raised prized fighting bulls at his ranch, Los Lamos and collected Harley Davidson motorcycles. He was the son of Fabio Ochoa Restrepo, whose family was in the cattle-breeding and family-restaurant businesses until they began trafficking with narcotics during the mid-1970s.
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Jorge Luis Ochoa Vázquez
- Born
- 30 September 1950
- Birthplace
- Medellín, Colombia
- Charge
- Drug trafficking
- Conviction status
- Turned in - Released by decree
- Spouse
- María Lía Posada Echeverri
Lore & Background
In 1976, Ochoa assumed leadership of what was basically an Ochoa family operation. Starting at least in 1978, his Miami contact was Rafael Cardona Salazar. 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. 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") announcing the imminent execution of any guerrilla kidnappers. After being threatened with reprisals, M-19 released Martha Nieves unharmed several months later. John Jairo Velásquez ("Popeye"), one of the main paid killers of Pablo Escobar Gaviria, argued in an interview that Jorge Luis Ochoa Vázquez was actually the boss of Pablo Escobar Gaviria.
Reader's Guide
On July 14, 1986, a Spanish court decided to extradite Ochoa to stand trial in Colombia. Once in Colombia, on 17 August 1986, and despite extradition requests from the U.S., Ochoa vanished after receiving a suspended sentence on charges of falsifying documents for importing fighting bulls from Spain. On November 21, 1987, Jorge Ochoa was held in prison on the bull-smuggling charge. Twenty-four hours later, a gang of thugs arrived at the house of Juan Gómez Martínez, the editor of Medellín's daily newspaper El Colombiano.
They presented Martínez with a communique signed by "The Extraditables," which threatened execution of Colombian political leaders if Jorge Ochoa were extradited. On 30 December 1987, Ochoa was released from prison on a habeas corpus petition. In 1987, Forbes magazine listed Ochoa among the world's twenty richest men, with an estimated worth near $3 billion. During September 1990, Colombian President César Gaviria Trujillo offered drug traffickers reduced prison sentences to be served in Colombia.
Jorge Luis surrendered to the Colombian police during January 1991. In July 1996, Jorge Luis was released after serving a five-and-a-half year prison sentence for drug trafficking.
Did You Know?
- He claimed he shipped an average of six metric tons of cocaine per month during the early 1980s.
- John Jairo Velásquez ('Popeye'), one of Pablo Escobar's main paid killers, argued that Jorge Luis Ochoa was actually the boss of Pablo Escobar.
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