oliver lawson

History

The Clan del Golfo (CdG) was founded in 2008 but it has deeper ties to the history of paramilitary groups in Colombia. Paramilitary groups were first formed in response to the kidnappings and violence of guerrilla groups like FARC and the ELN. However, they would themselves turn to criminal economies and commit numerous war crimes in their fight against guerrillas.

The largest of these paramilitary groups was a confederacy called the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC). The later founder of the CdG, Daniel Rendón Herrera (Don Mario), led the AUC’s most powerful faction, the Centauros Bloc, which participated in extortion and cocaine production in the Orinoquía or the Eastern Plains of Colombia.

The AUC demobilized in 2006 as a result of a peace process with the Colombian state. But not everyone in the AUC was willing to lay down their arms. Vicente Castaño, Ever Veloza Garcia (HH, the leader of the Calima Bloc), and Daniel Rendón Herrera (Don Mario, finance chief of the Centuros Bloc continued to operate and started the group that would later become CdG.

Castaño was killed in March 2007, which allowed Don Mario to move in with a core group of 80 men and take over the operation. Over the next two years, Don Mario would establish the group as one of the most powerful in Colombia. 

Don Mario expanded the CdGs territory into the Bajo Cauca region in Northern Antioquia. He also visited Medellín to negotiate with the Oficinica de Envigado (heirs to Escobar’s trafficking empire) before later starting a bloody territorial spat with the group.

On October 15, 2008, Don Mario announced the formation of the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC), the name still used by CdG to represent themselves.

Don Mario was captured on a farm in rural Urabá in April 2009 by a team of 300 police officers.

Two brothers, Juan de Dios Úsuga, alias “Giovanni,” and Dairo Antonio Úsuga, alias “Otoniel,” stepped into the vacuum to lead the organization. They were former members of the (Ejército Popular de Liberación – EPL ) before later joining the AUC.

Starting with an estimated 200 men, the Úsuga brothers oversaw the expansion of the CdG into other territories, including later into Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador – primarily by forming alliances with other groups but occasionally through violent campaigns.

Giovanni was killed in 2012, leaving Otoniel as the sole leader of the GdG. Despite his death, the organization’s territorial expansion continued unabated.

Under Otoniel, the group grew to become one of Colombia’s largest narco-trafficking organisations. It adopted a franchising model, forming alliances with regional players and absorbing them. 

This strategy allowed the group to expand throughout northern Colombia and to establish a presence near the borders with Venezuela and into neighboring Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador.

The AGC’s influence spread across much of the country, and soon the group controlled drug production zones, trafficking corridors, and international dispatch points throughout north Colombia, along both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and the land border with Venezuela.

In 2015, the government made a focused effort to go after the CdG in an operation codenamed “Agamemnon.” This had little effect until its second phase in 2017, which garnered major results, including the killing of the group’s number 2: Roberto Vargas Gutiérrez, alias “Gavilán,” along with many other leaders.

On February 7, 2017, a joint effort of the Colombian Police and Army killed Deivis Johan Barragán Blanco (alias Cobra II). Cobra II had allegedly been instrumental in the CdG’s Plan Pistola, which targeted police officers as a way of responding to “Operation Agamemnon.”

The CdG’s military leader Luis Orlando Padierma (Inglaterra) was also killed. The loss of his key allies weakened Otoniel’s position in the CdG so much that he attempted to open demobilization negotiations with the Colombian government.

In September 2017, Otoniel appeared in a public video appealing to the government. However, the state was not interested in demobilization, opting instead to try and defeat CdG militarily.

Despite the mounting pressure from the state, the CdG has continued to increase its territorial control. In January of 2020, the group was able to displace the ELN from much of its territory in Bojayá (Chocó), a key drug route.

In addition to the ELN, the CdG has waged wars for territorial control against Los Caparrapos and against FARC Dissidents in  Nariño.

In October of 2021, the Colombian Military finally captured Otoniel in a major operation. He was extradited to the United States in May 2022 and is completing a 45-year sentence in prison.

Otoniel’s successor is  Jobanis de Jesús Ávila Villadiego, alias “Chiquito Malo.” As part of President Gustavo Petro’s Paz Total plan, the government is in negotiations with the CdG over demobilization. However, these negotiations have been slow due to a lack of a clear judicial framework for the group.

Leadership/Structure

The Clan del Golfo (CdG) has a unique dispersed structure in which only roughly a third of the organization’s cells are commanded directly by the group’s leadership. The remaining two-thirds of the organization are local gangs that effectively operate as financially independent franchises.

Local bands gain the protection and clout of operating as part of the larger structure in exchange for kicking up some of their earnings. This model is the key to CdG’s rapid growth, but also makes the group’s true power harder to evaluate.

The long-time leader of the CdG was Dairo Antonio Úsuga David (Otoniel). who first became active in the 1990s. He was originally part of the guerrilla group the Popular Liberation Army (EPL) before joining the  Peasant Self-Defense Forces of Córdoba and Urabá (ACCU) and later the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

He took over the leadership of the CdG alongside his brother (later killed in 2012) and oversaw its rapid expansion from a band of 200 men to arguably Colombia’s largest narco-trafficking group.

The Colombian military finally captured Otoniel in 2021, and he is now serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States.

Otoniel was succeeded by Obanis de Jesús Ávila Villadiego, alias “Chiquito Malo.” Chiquito Malo was a former AUC paramilitary fighter, later becoming the leader of one of the CdG’s key structures, the Central Urabá Structure. He is believed to have a firm grip on the reins of power.

Other important leaders in the Clan del Golfo include José Gonzalo Sánchez, alias “Gonzalito,” is the second-in-command, followed by Orosman Ostén Blanco, alias “Rodrigo Flechas,” alias “Julián,” and alias “Joaquín.”

In March of 2023, one of Otoniel’s trusted lieutenants, Wilmer Antonio Giraldo Quiroz, alias “Siopas,” was killed. Siopas was allegedly planning to create a breakaway Clan del Golfo faction to avoid potential demobilization as part of Paz Total negotiations with the Colombian government.

Geography

Clan del Golfo originated from the bay of Urabá, a major body of water near the Panamanian border that is a critical departure point for narcotics traveling north. The group is strategically located so they have access to both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts.

But Clan del Golfo has a presence all over the country with members or allies in 20 of Colombia’s departments and also in Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama.

Most notably, Clan del Golfo operates in Antioquia (including Medellin), Guajira, Santander, Valle del Cauca, and Norte de Santander.

The border regions between Venezuela and Colombia are the latest frontier in the CdG’s campaign of expansion. The group is currently fighting the ELN and some FARC dissident factions for control of crucial border crossings in Norte de Santander. 

These corridors allow those who control them critical channels for smuggling narcotics into Venezuela and also for smuggling migrants into Colombia. At the moment, the CdG only has limited influence near Cucuta and Puerto Santander, with little influence in Venezuela itself.

The extent of the CdG’s presence beyond Colombia in Venezuela and Panama is debatable, mainly because of the blurred lines between the group’s allies and its membership. Arrests in Panama suggest that CdG at least has an alliance with a local gang in the country, which may be a “franchisee.”

Allies and Enemies

The Clan del Golfo’s main rivals are the ELN and some factions of FARC Dissidents. The CdG is fighting a war for territorial control in Chocó, Antioquia, Bolívar, and Norte de Santander. A war it is, for the most part, winning.

Historically, the CdG fought against the Oficinia de Envigado and Los Rastrojos. However, the group’s position of dominance has made it difficult for these smaller groups to continue to oppose them.

The details are unclear, but it appears that the CdG has a franchising relationship with Los Rastrojos, who may now be effectively part of the larger Clan del Golfo structure.

This connection is the result of an alliance forged between the two groups to fight the common enemies of the ELN and FARC dissident factions. 

Now, the groups may be allied with Los Rastrojos as a junior partner or Los Rastrojos may effectively be part of the CdG.

Criminal Economies

Clan del Golfo is primarily a drug trafficking organization, with primary control over the flow of narcotics in Córdoba , Bajo Cauca, Chocó and Antioquia. These narcotics are funneled through the Gulf of Urabá for transport to the US via the Caribbean or Mexico.

The group also reportedly influences drug trafficking through La Guajira, much of which is destined for European markets. 

In addition to drug trafficking, Clan del Golfo makes a lot of money by charging taxes on groups involved in illegal mining within its territories, primarily illicit gold mining.