Leonidas Vargas-Vargas and the Business of Medellín’s Vacuum
Even as Pablo Escobar’s death was supposed to break the Medellín network, the intelligence shows a machine that merely swapped its leaders for smarter brokers.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Colombia
Álvaro Uribe and the 1992 Channel to Pablo Escobar
Kept confidential for decades, a 1993 cable details a future president's efforts to broker a line to the Medellín Cartel while the U.S. Embassy logged his compromises.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Ivan Ramirez and the 1997 Pact with Colombian Paramilitaries
A 24-page Secret cable spent 26 years in the shadows before Colombian prosecutors used it to confront a general who looked the other way while massacres happened.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Joseph Califano and the CIA's Private Spy Network in Bogota
A 1963 report kept secret for decades details the funding of Colombian businessmen to spy on their own government and the training of U.S. assets in Cuban guerrilla camps
By Harlan Pryce ·
Herman Arias Gaviria and the State-Licensed Drug Militias
He licensed the guns that fueled paramilitary massacres, yet Bogota promoted him to national security adviser while the DIA watched from the shadows.
By Desmond Okafor ·
Carlos Castaño and the Prior Assurances of the Mapiripán Massacre
The 1997 slaughter of civilians was facilitated by a military that looked the other way—a partnership the CIA tracked in a report kept secret for decades.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Colombian Security Forces and the 'Allies' Who Killed 38 Percent of Civilians
A heavily censored report kept secret for decades confirms that Colombian state forces sheltered the very paramilitaries responsible for the highest toll of civilian blood.
By Desmond Okafor ·
37 Colombian Guerrillas and the CIA's Secret Tally
A secret CIA tally from 1963 kept a count of Colombian revolutionaries trained in Havana, while the names of those targeted for neutralization remained blacked out.
By Desmond Okafor ·
Álvaro Uribe and the 1995 Bid for Direct Military Aid
He sought US helicopters to crush guerrillas while the embassy tracked his own drug ties—a secret kept for decades through redacted cables.
By Desmond Okafor ·
Álvaro Uribe and the 1993 Blueprint for Narco-Tolerance
A confidential cable kept secret for years reveals how Washington dismissed the cartel ties of Colombia's future leaders to ensure a predictable transition of power.
By Desmond Okafor ·
U.S. Army's 1990 Map of Colombia's Most Notorious Brigades
For years, the U.S. military held a high-resolution map of the Colombian units that tortured and disappeared civilians, keeping the command structure secret while the blood flowed.
By Harlan Pryce ·
30 Dead in Mapiripán and the Secret List of Colombian Army Allies
A 1998 cable kept secret for decades shows the U.S. knew exactly which Colombian officers helped paramilitaries murder civilians while plotting to send them counter-narcotics aid.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Nestor Hernandez Iglesia and the 70 Percent Economy of Putumayo
For years, the state ignored the AUC’s narco-financed massacres in southern Colombia while arresting a local mayor for fraud to keep the appearance of law.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Fidel Castaño and the 2,000 Paramilitaries Who Sold the Cordoba Model
Kept secret for 25 years, a 1998 cable documents how U.S. multinationals and the DEA intersected with Colombian narco-vigilantes to cleanse the Córdoba region.
By Desmond Okafor ·
Major General Ramirez and the Colombian Proxy Price
For decades, the US funded a military that the CIA knew was entwined with paramilitary death squads, keeping the details of that betrayal secret until 1997.
By Harlan Pryce ·
143 Civilians and the Generals Who Watched
A 1999 confidential cable describes a bloodbath in Colombia where state forces stood aside—and why the U.S. kept promoting the men responsible
By Harlan Pryce ·