TODAY COLOMBIA (Dialogo-Americas) The Colombian National Army announced December 21 the capture of Hermes Alirio Casanova Ordoñez, an alleged drug trafficker suspected of brokering deals between Colombian terrorists and drug traffickers and Mexican transnational criminal organizations. Soldiers arrested him in the Department of Valle del Cauca.
Casanova Ordoñez allegedly served as the link between the Western Bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Clan Úsuga narco-trafficking gang, and two Mexican organized crime groups, Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel. U.S. federal law enforcement authorities accuse him of trafficking more than 100 tons of Colombian cocaine into the United States, and in February, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated him as a significant foreign narcotics trafficker under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.
Treasury officials have named more than 1,600 individuals and entities under the Kingpin Act since June 2000 according to the Treasury Department. Penalties for violations of the Kingpin Act range from civil fines of up to $1.075 million to more severe criminal penalties, that may include up to 30 years in prison and fines up to $5 million for corporate officers.
