Europe has a say

WE’RE MOVING!
For many years now, Colombian mafias have been spreading their tentacles throughout Spain. Yet news coverage seems to have awaken just now: after the assassination of Leonidas Vargas, one of Colombia’s most prominent drug-bosses, on January 8th in a Madrid hospital, vast reports on the power of drug cartels in the Iberian Peninsule have asidously covered the headlines.

THE HITMAN IS AMONG US – The title is short, but incisive: “Agency of Crime“. In this way, “El País“ reporter Luis Gómez presents an extensive story, published on Sunday (January 18th) in Spain’s major daily, about how Colombian mafias have settled in Spain and how they dispose of an enormous infrastructure expanded all over the country. “Hitmen don’t need to fly in and out anymore: they now live among us“, writes Mr. Gómez. Then he adds: “You pay, or you die. In Colombia, or in Spain. In the coded language of Colombian drug dealing, debts and offences always add to your account. It is the way of making law to be respected, not very different from the manners of other criminal societies: blood spills on non-payment“. The article was published as part of a wide coverage made on Colombian drug dealing organizations in Spain by “El País“ after the murder of Leonidas Vargas. In his story, reporter Luis Gómez centers on the milieu of Colombian hitmen in Spain, and seeks to explain the nature and mentality of this criminal type: “The hitman is not the lonely, cold and, calculating character, obsessed with his weaponry and body shape, discrete in his life affairs, who uses a false identity, watches out on every single motion, and moves only to make a job. Reality differs with fiction“. 

 
GOMORRAH, NOW IN SPAIN – Cooperation between Colombian and Italian mafias is one more of the old-known and sad truths in the history of international crime. But that they have now chosen Spain to be the epicentre of their machinations is a whole new chapter. Miguel Mora, reporter of Spain’s major daily “El País“, wrote an article about the alliances between the Neapolitan Camorra and Colombian cartels in Spain, published on Monday (January 19th) in the newspaper’s print edition. Mr. Mora quotes Geatano Maruccia, the chief of the Central Command of the Neapolitan Police: “There are many ’camorristas’ in Spain, some manage drug businesses and others are fugitives that hide there. They know the place, they invest in construction projects, and they own very efficient companies that allow them to blank drugs and extortion money“. Recent arrests in Barcelona make everything clear now: the link to Colombian mafias has helped out the Iberian harvest of the Camorra.

 
THE KING’S DEATH
Leonidas Vargas, aka ’The King of Caquetá’, aka ’The Old Man’, was a good friend of the big fat fishes of Colombian drug business: Pablo Escobar, Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, and Farc. On January 8th, he was killed in a Madrid hospital, as he recovered from a stroke. The cinematic flair of the murder triggered news coverage on the case all around Europe.

THE KING’S GROTESQUE END – “For some professionals, murder doesn’t colide with good manners“. In this way, the three authors of an article published in “El País“ on Sunday, January 11th, dive into the case of Leonidas Vargas, shot dead in a Madrid hospital after the killers had asked his sixty year-old bed-neighbor: “Sir, are you Leonidas?“ Spain’s major daily considers the act “a perfect job“ and as “the typical written end“ of Colombian drug dealing kingpins. After depicting Mr. Vargas’ story as drug-baron in the Colombian region of Caquetá, in the South of the country, the three reporters point out that Spanish authorities can’t do other but consider that the authors of the crime were other Colombian dealers, who days before the shooting had ordered his execution. According to “El País“, two cameras recorded how inside the 12 de Octubre Hospital two men, between 25 and 30, and well covered, reached the fifth floor; one of them guarded the staircase, while the other committed the crime.
In the extensive report, “El País“ journalists give also details on how Mr. Vargas’ body was picked up from a forensic institute in Madrid, to which only his daughter and two friend assisted. “The three of them stepped out of a dark Mercedes. Well-dressed, very ernest, ready to listen to the doctors. (...) They had come for the corpse of El Rey to take him back to Caquetá“.

THE BUTCHER – “El País" Bogotá correspondent Pilar Lozano wrote a story on the rise and fall of Leonidas Vargas, published on Sunday, January 11th. She begins: “First came gold and fame, then they killed his daughter“. Ms. Lozano visited the house that Mr. Vargas had constructed at the outskirts of Bogotá: “the swimming-pool had the shape of the Caquetá region, his homeland at the South of the country“. After describing Mr. Vargas’ youth in the small town of Belén de los Andaquíes, she describes how, at 30, the life of the drug boss “made a quick turn: from having been a butcher he suddenly was The King of Caquetá“. Sponsored by the hand of Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, one of Colombia’s most sinister criminals during the 80’s, Mr. Vargas began to accumulate land and power, in a country that “already in that time was the major producer of cocaine in the world“. Ms. Lozano writes: “The house in Bogotá had a dancefloor, bowling tracks, waterfalls sorrounding the pool and a puppet-like house for his bodyguards (...)“.

PAYBACK TIME – France’s biggest broadcasting network “Radio France International“ (RFI) also informed on its website on Leonidas Vargas’ cinematic murder at Madrid’s 12 de Octubre Hospital. “RFI“’s Madrid correspondent François Musseau points out in an article published on Friday, January 9th, that “everything suggests it was a payback“. Mr. Vargas, also known as “El Viejo“, had been caught in 2006 while trying to bring to Europe half a ton of cocaine, so “RFI“. “For his assassins, the task didn’t seem to be difficult“. 

 
HE PAYED FOR KILLING – “As filmic as his dead, had been his life“, writes Madrid correspondent Javier Cáceres of Germany’s major daily paper “Süddeutsche Zeitung“ (SZ). According to Mr. Cáceres, “Vargas was recognized as a talented chief of drug elaborating laboratories“. Of Mr. Vargas’ life the “SZ“ writes: “Like Pablo Escobar, Vargas liked to show a caritative face. But he did not only finance orphanages, stadiums, and hospitals; he also payed for killing“. Mr. Vargas was caught in Madrid, in 2006, as he had tried to travel to Berlin to watch the final game of the Soccer Worldcup live, so Mr. Cáceres.


THE LAXITUDE OF COLOMBIAN JUSTICE – “Le Monde“ Bogotá correspondent Marie Delcas dedicated her article about the assassination of Leonidas to depciting the life of the
“King of Caquetá“. Published on Saturday, January 10th, Ms. Delcas’ report refers to “the belle epoque of the narco-déco style in Colombia“ during the first years of the 90’s. “Arrested in Cartagena in January 1993, Vargas was condemned to 19 years in prison for drug traffic and to 26 for homicide“, she writes. But “the generosity—the laxity, some would say—of Colombian justice“ permitted the ’Old Man’, as he was also called, to get out of prison after only seven years, so Ms. Delcas.

TRAINEE IN CRIME – Salud Hernández Mora, an illustrous Spanish journalist and star columnist of her country’s major conservative daily “El Mundo“, also wrote on the death of the “King of Caquetá“. According to Ms. Hernández Mora, Leonidas Vargas, who was killed by four bullets shot at him while recovering from a heart disease in a Madrid hospital, was a victim of his own creation. She writes: “Some years ago, during the 90’s, he ordered the assassination of an agent in the Police Hospital in Bogotá, using the oportunity that the policeman had to be medically treated to finish with him“.“El Mundo“ depicts the life of Mr. Vargas, born in May 1949, within a humble family in Florencia, Caquetá’s capital. From being a butcher—“a job too insufficient for his ambitions“—, he became the apprentice of drug barons Gonzalo Rodríguez Gache and Pablo Escobar, and a most important ally of Farc, ending up exporting tons of cocaine into the United States, so Ms. Hernández Mora.


NO MORE COFFEE FOR MOTHER GOOSE
On January 2nd, a sketch of Mike Peters, an illustre St. Louis-born cartoonist, was published in over 600 newspapers throughout the United States. 'Mother Goose & Grimm' was its name, and in it, Mr. Peters associated Juan Valdez, the world-known icon of Colombian coffee, with the decade-lasting violence in the country. The National Federation of Colombian Coffee Producers immediately decided to sue Mr. Peters—though the outrage in the media was so great, that at the end the fuzz was rapidly over. Here is what the European press had to say.

IT’S A CRUEL JOKE – “American humor irritates Colombian coffee producers“. In this way, the Spanish conservative daily “El Mundo“ presents an article about the announcement of the Colombian National Federation of Coffee Producers (Fedecafé) that it would sue the American cartoonist Mike Peters for a comic published on January 2nd. According to the “El Mundo“ report, published Thursday (January 8th), Fedecafé had accused Mr. Peters of “denigrating the coffee agroindustry“ in his strip ’Mother Goose & Grimm’. The law-suit was to be diligenced by the firm Holland & Knight, and it pursued a compensation of 20 million dollars for “detriment of intellectual property, and defamation“.“El Mundo“ quotes a high-rank executive of Fedecafé stating: “We disaprove of this firmly and categorically (...), it is a cruel joke about a country that has suffered too much from the drug traffic and the violence that the appetite for drugs in the United States and in other developed countries constantly power up“. 

IT’S SAD, BUT IT’S TRUE – “Irrelevant Fact From Colombia“. This is the headline that the editors of Germany’s major independent, leftist daily “Tageszeitung“ (taz) chose for presenting their article about the querry between Fedecafé and US-cartoonist Mike Peters. “When it comes to comics the fun ends for Colombian coffee officials“, wrote “taz“ in its print edition of Monday, January 12th. According to Gerhard Dilger, author of the article, “Colombia’s reputation is at stake—that’s why Fedecafé wants to sue cartoonist Mike Peters (...)“. Gabriel Silva, CEO of Fedecafé, is quoted saying, that his accusations “intend especially to improve the image of the 500.000 peasant families“ represented by the world-famous brand Juán Valdez. Reporter Dilger writes: “For Colombians, and Colombian experts, the phrase ’there’s a piece of Juan Valdez in every cup’ wakes associations with the chain-saw massacres perpetrated by paramilitaries who are closely tied with landowners and right-winged politicians“. He adds: “Their harsh procedures against supposed or real sympathizers of guerrillas is also in coffee growing regions a sad reality“.

NOT FUNNY – Josef Manola, Madrid correspondent of Austria’s major broadcasting agency “Österreichischer Rundfunk“ (ORF), also refered to the skirmish between Fedecafé and Mike Peters. “The honour of coffee producing peasants has been injured“, reporter Manola writes on his text published on Friday, January 9th, in the “ORF“ website. “When dealing with their national drink, Colombians can’t stand a joke“, he adds. Although the cartoonist had already excused himself in an interview, the representatives of Fedecafé said not to be satisfied with it, so Mr. Manola.


IT’S NOT HIS FAULT – Also Marie Delcas, Bogotá correspondent of France’s major daily “Le Monde“, wrote on the tussle between Fedecafe’s executives and cartoonist Mike Peters. In an article titled “Colombian Coffee, Mother Goose, and Organized Crime“, published Wednesday, January 7th, Ms. Delcas writes: “The reaction of Fedecafé is not free of controversy.“ And she quotes the famous Colombian cartoonist Vladimir Flórez‚ ’Vladdo’, saying: “Daily violence is, like Juan Valdez, a symbol of our country. And as far as I know, this is not Mr. Peters’ fault.“

COMING OUT OF THE JUNGLE
The story of the 37 year-old former guerrillera Zenaida Rueda, who abandoned arms on January 2nd and helped a Farc hostage escape from captivity, is the topic of an extensive report written by Marie Delcas, Colombia correspondent of France’s major daily “Le Monde“, and published on Monday, January 12th. Formerly known under Farc fighters as ’Myriam’, Ms. Rueda will receive a reward that is yet to be fixed by the Ministry of Defense, so “Le Monde“. “Zenaida has a beautiful face and her voice is calm; she has spent half of her life in the maquis.“ Ms. Rueda, the mother of two children, knew already about the high risks of escaping: “She knew that one day the father of her eldest son had been executed by his camerades after trying to flee.“ According to the “Le Monde“ reporter, Farc hostage Juan Fernando Samudio, a prosperous merchant kidnapped in May 2007 and guarded by Ms. Rueda since 2008, “had noticed her disapointment and her tiredness—confidence was then gently established.“ Soon, they planned their escape. 

 
HIGHEST MURDER RATE
Readers of the daily “Le Figaro" , France’s second major newspaper, found on Wednesday, January 21st, a report of the French news agency AFP informing that in 2008 more than 16.000 people were assassinated in Colombia. Though, according to AFP, it is the lowest murder rate of the last 30 years in the country, “the balance remains too high in comparison with other nations in the region“. According to AFP, statistics place Colombia high above the average of whole Latinamerica.

PULL THE SHEETS OFF
The Spanish conservative daily “ABC“ reported on Wednesday (January 21st) on the law suit started by the Chilenian film-director Matías Bize and producer Adrián Solar against Gustavo Nieto, a Colombian director who last April presented a film called “Entre sábanas“ (“Under the Sheets“). Since then, the similarity of Mr. Nieto’s work to “En la cama“ (“In Bed“), a film produced by Mr. Bize and Mr. Solar, had woken up speculations on a possible case of plagiarism. “ABC“ writes: “According to ’El Mercurio’, Nieto is working on an English version of his film (...). But the Chilenian Cultural Council has been advising the accusants.“ And now they are on their way to Brazil, where Mr. Nieto works on a new movie, to sue him.