Colombia

By Jill Smolowe

The tip was vague: check out a mansion 20 miles outside Medellin, the hub of the country's cocaine industry. At daybreak a 20-man elite police unit moved in. When the gunfight ended almost half an hour later, all 15 people inside the house were under arrest. But it was only when police demanded the papers of the captives that they realized they had cornered one of Colombia's most powerful and dangerous cocaine drug lords. Exclaimed Police Major William Lesmes: "We've caught him! This is Carlos Lehder Rivas." Dressed in a T shirt and blue jeans, Lehder muttered, "This is the one place I never expected you'd catch me."

The arrest of the drug boss and his 14 bodyguards was no small coup. The baby-faced Lehder, 37, is a leader of the Medellin cartel, a powerful crime cabal that is said to supply 80% of the world's cocaine. The group rakes in billions of dollars annually, allegedly smuggling up to 15 tons of cocaine monthly into the U.S. and Europe. Aware that underlings might try to rescue their billionaire boss, U.S. and Colombian officials hastily drew up papers to extradite Lehder to the U.S. Before the sun had set, he was en route to Florida, where he will stand trial on a 1981 indictment on charges of smuggling drugs and running a criminal enterprise, which could put him behind bars for life.

As satisfying as Lehder's capture was for both the Bogota government and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, it will not put the Medellin operations out of business. Lehder is only one of the cartel's half a dozen barons, and there is speculation that he may have been set up by one of his brethren who found the arrogant Lehder too power hungry. "We cannot say we have enacted a crippling blow by this arrest," conceded DEA Administrator Jack Lawn. "Its impact lies in the fact that the government of Colombia, in spite of all its losses, has declared its intent."

Bogota's move against Lehder was taken at great risk. Over the past few years, Colombia's on-again-off-again war on drugs has claimed the lives of dozens of judges, policemen and journalists. The battle had slowed noticeably when Virgilio Barco Vargas was sworn in as President last August. The early months of his administration suggested to some that Barco was more interested in his country's economic troubles and did not assign high priority to the drug war.

But in recent months the President has come on strong. When the Colombian Supreme Court used a technicality to void a controversial extradition treaty with the U.S. that was aimed at drug traffickers, Barco quickly reactivated the agreement. A few days later, a prominent newspaperman who had been openly critical of drug traffickers was slain in Bogota. Barco ordered a sweeping offensive against la mafia, as the drug barons are known. Police stepped up raids, arrests and drug seizures. Since then, Barco has signed several decrees making it easier for authorities to move against drug traffickers.

On Jan. 13 the drug lords delivered a chilling counterblow. Enrique Parejo Gonzalez, Colombia's Ambassador to Hungary, had just stepped from his home in Budapest when a man approached and pumped four bullets into his head and body. It was a miracle that Parejo survived, but it was no surprise that he was targeted. As Minister of Justice from 1984 to 1986, he had led Colombia's war on drugs. During that period, there were constant threats against his life. Parejo mistakenly assumed he was out of harm's way behind the security-tight Iron Curtain. Afterward, Colombia's Attorney General Mauro Hoyos warned, "No one is safe anywhere against the vengeance of la mafia."

DEA agents say the cartel's influence is so pervasive that it is destroying civilized society in Colombia. "It's a criminal's paradise," says a DEA official. "Colombia has judges who won't send serious criminals away, jails that won't hold anybody, and the highest murder rate outside of countries in the middle of a civil war." In 1986, 5,600 murders were reported in Colombia. Close to half of those took place in Medellin, where, according to the DEA, the cartel operates a school for assassins in which students learn surveillance, wiretapping and other skills..

Many Colombians have grown numb to the constant violence. "You get used to murder here, and you have to get over it fast," says Housewife Monica de Riveros. Doctors, however, question whether violence can be dealt with so tidily. Psychiatrist Fernando Escobar warns that the climate of brutality has given rise to a climate of lawlessness. Says he: "Violence is seen as a solution to diverse problems."

The Bogota government's war on drugs will founder unless Barco overcomes what one close aide describes as "weaknesses in certain sectors of the army and a worrisome corruption in the police force." That will not be an easy task. In Medellin, up to 80% of the police force is suspected of working for la mafia. At present, close to 500 Colombian police are under investigation for involvement in drug trafficking. Military officials, meanwhile, have resisted joining the antidrug battle because they know that low-paid soldiers and officers can easily be bribed by drug lords not to enforce the law.

Last week's arrest of Lehder will undoubtedly boost the morale of Colombia's drug warriors. Even in the savage drug underworld, the short, cocky Lehder stands out as a particularly unsavory character. Known to favor beautiful women, cocaine and brutality, he also professes an admiration for Adolf Hitler. In mafia circles, he is unaffectionately called el loco (the nut). In a war where losses are many and victories are largely symbolic, Lehder's capture was a rich symbol indeed.

With reporting by Bernard Diederich/Miami and Elaine Shannon/Washington