The second-in-command of the “Clan del Golfo“, Colombia's largest drug cartel, drowned after his boat sank, the government confirmed yesterday, quoted by AFP.
Jose Gonzalo Sanchez, nicknamed Gonzalito, was wanted by US authorities for drug trafficking.
“Clan del Golfo“, Colombia's main cocaine exporter, which was recently declared a terrorist organization by the US, is currently holding talks with the Colombian government in Qatar.
Alvaro Jimenez, the chief negotiator appointed by President Gustavo Petro, confirmed the death of the drug lord to AFP. The boat he was travelling on capsized in the department of Cordoba (in northern Colombia) and he drowned, Jimenez said.
Colombian authorities were looking for him for multiple crimes, including murder, forced displacement, arms trafficking, illegal mining and extortion.
On December 5, Petro's government agreed in Qatar to continue negotiations aimed at disarming the “Clan del Golfo“ and pacifying the territories controlled by the organization.
These negotiations are part of a peace policy aimed at disarming all illegal groups, but so far, negotiations with none of them have yielded concrete results.
With paramilitary origins, “Clan del Golfo“ has between 6,000 and 7,000 fighters and collaborators, according to the government.
The cartel has suffered blows, including the arrest and extradition in 2022 to the United States of its leader, Dayro Antonio Usuga, known as Otoniel, considered the Pablo Escobar of this century. He is serving a 45-year prison sentence.