BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian authorities say they have captured Dairo Antonio Úsuga, alias “Otoniel,” leader of the violent Clan del Golfo drug cartel and one of the country’s most wanted traffickers.
The U.S. State Department had offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Úsuga, whose power base is in Colombia’s Uraba region.
“This is a coup ... only compared to the capture of Pablo Escobar,” said President Iván Duque, confirming the detention in a statement. Escobar, the founder and head of the Medellin Cartel, died in a shootout in 1993.
Human Rights Watch Americas director José Miguel Vivanco congratulated Colombian authorities for Úsuga’s detention and urged justice of the victims of “the hundreds of crimes committed under his command.”.