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The Norte del Valle Cartel
For the first few years of the 2000s, the Norte del Valle cartel seemed to resist the balkanization and infighting that had destroyed its rivals. The cartel maintained close connections to terrorists paramilitary groups, giving it an edge in the fire- and manpower needed to suppress potential competitors, and the cartel’s leaderships ruthlessly policed its ranks, gruesomely executing suspected informants and traitors.
In 2003, however, things went south for Norte del Valle. The cartel suffered a disastrous series of busts, and some its leaders apparently made quiet overtures to the DEA, seeking either amnesty or plea-bargains. This did not please the rest of the cartel’s rulers, and a multi-faction war erupted.
Hundreds died in the carnage, prompting still more pressure from US and Colombian authorities. Highly publicized busts continued over the next few years, and several members of its leadership quietly surrendered to US or Colombian authorities, offering intelligence on their former comrades in exchange for reduced sentences. By late 2007, the group’s activities had been sharply curtailed. Although a few of the cartel’s rulers remained at large, most of them had been arrested or murdered.
Much of the infrastructure established by the Norte del Valle and other cartels remains, however. The drug trade in Colombia is currently a hydra without a head: every would-be drug lord strives to cultivate allies and eliminate enemies. Growers continue to cultivate coca as they have for decades, while small crime syndicates butcher each other for the right to collect the processed cocaine and ship it out of the country. It’s only a matter of time before a new cartel takes root and seizes control of the cocaine trade.
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