USA/FILE: Colombian drug kings, once blamed for 80 percent of the world's cocaine trade, plead guilty in Miami

Two Colombian brothers who once controlled 80 percent of the world's cocaine pleaded guilty on Tuesday (September 26) to conspiring to smuggle more than 200 tons of the drug into the United States. Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, 67, and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, 63, acknowledged their guilt before U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno in Miami as part of an agreement that would spare several of their relatives from U.S. prosecution. Moreno sentenced the brothers to 30 years in prison, effectively ensuring they will spend the rest of their lives behind bars. The two men also agreed to forfeit 2.1 billion US dollars in illegal profits. Attorneys for the brothers told reporters that they made their plea to protect their family's future. "The brothers are happy that their families are taken care of," said attorney Roy Kahn. "Whether it's 30 years, 20 years or 15 years - to them it's going to be a life time in jail but they're willing to do that for their family's future and their family's welfare." The short, stout, gray-haired men wore dark suits as they stood in the courtroom, listening to an English-Spanish translator through headphones. They respectfully answered in Spanish, "Yes, your honour," when Moreno asked if they understood they were waiving their right to trial and appeal. Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela said he was admitting all the charges willingly submitting himself to American justice. His brother apologised to his family and asked their forgiveness for the suffering he had caused them. He also apologised to the people of the United States. In Washington, United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales called the plea a success. "While at the height of their power, the intimidation and violence of their cartel held the people of the Colombian countryside hostage to fear," said Gonzales at a news conference. The Rodriguez Orejuelas founded the Cali Cartel in the Colombian city of that name and acknowledged shipping hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States from 1990 through 2002. Some was hidden in U.S.-bound cargo containers full of frozen vegetables, coffee and hollow concrete posts. Some was shipped by plane and freighter to Mexico for overland transit to the United States. Colombia extradited the brothers to Florida in 2004 and 2005, with the stipulation that they could only be sentenced for crimes committed after 1997, when they began serving prison terms in their homeland for their previous crimes. The Rodriguez Orejuelas acknowledged they continued to run the family business from their Colombian jail cells, and shipped enough after that date to earn their 30-year sentences. They also agreed to plead guilty to a money laundering charge filed in New York, but that sentence will run concurrently with the 30 years Moreno imposed. The U.S. government agreed not to charge six of their relatives with money laundering and obstructing justice. The government also agreed to remove 28 family members from a list of people blocked by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control from engaging in financial transactions.

ITN Source | September 27, 2006

Tags:. .illegal. .appeal. .agreement. .admitting. .blamed