The leader of the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia and Colombia's most wanted drug trafficker, Dairo Antonio Usuga ("Otoniel"), was captured. "This is the biggest blow against drug trafficking in our country this century. This hit is only comparable to the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s," President Duque said.
Otoniel will be extradited, most likely to the United States, where he was first indicted in 2009 in a Manhattan federal court on drug trafficking charges. Experts say Otoniel's capture falls in line with a military tactic used in Latin America, known as "kingpin strategy," in which security forces seek to take out the leader of an armed group in order to topple its criminal enterprises.
"When the head of an organization, a 'kingpin', is toppled, there are a dozen underlings ready to take their place. And I have no doubt the same will happen with Otoniel," said Sergio Guzman, director of Colombia Risk Analysis.
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