Jorge Luis Ochoa

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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.

In Their Own Story

On 30 April 1984, Colombian Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla was assassinated by a narco hitman. 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 fortunes to avoid extradition. President Belisario Betancur refused. On November 15, 1984, Jorge Ochoa was arrested by Spanish police in Madrid, on a U.S. warrant. Soon after, the Medellín Cartel publicly threatened to murder 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 he shipped an average of six metric tons of cocaine per month during the early 1980s (until his 1984 arrest).

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?

• Jorge Luis Ochoa 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.
• In 1987, Forbes magazine listed Ochoa among the world's twenty richest men, with an estimated worth near $3 billion.
• 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.