24 April 2001

Text: Treasury Dept. Names Colombian Drug Kingpin to Traffickers List

The Treasury Department announced on April 24 that Victor Julio Pati�� Fomeque, a Colombian drug cartel kingpin, has been added to its list of Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs).

This action "blocks the assets of SDNTs found in U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits Americans from doing business with them, thereby further exposing, isolating, and incapacitating Colombian drug cartels and their agents," according to a Treasury Department press release issued April 24. The Treasury Department also said that the SDNT list now includes three businesses and twenty-six associated individuals that the department "has determined are acting as fronts for Victor Julio Pati�� Fomeque."

Following is the text of the press release:

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TREASURY NEWS
FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
April 24, 2001

TREASURY NAMES COLOMBIAN DRUG
KINGPIN TO TRAFFICKERS LIST

The Treasury Department today added the name of Victor Julio Pati�� Fomeque, a Colombian drug cartel kingpin, to the list of Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs). SDNTs are subject to the economic sanctions imposed against Colombian drug cartels.

The Treasury action blocks the assets of SDNTs found in U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits Americans from doing business with them, thereby further exposing, isolating, and incapacitating Colombian drug cartels and their agents. The Colombian drug kingpin named to the SDNT list today by Treasury manages maritime drug smuggling operations out of the Pacific port of Buenaventura, Colombia. In addition to the drug kingpin, Treasury added three businesses and twenty-six associated individuals that it has determined are acting as fronts for Victor Julio Pati�� Fomeque.

This action is part of the ongoing interagency effort of the Treasury, Justice and State Departments to carry out Executive Order 12978, signed on October 21, 1995, which applies economic sanctions against the Colombian drug cartels. With the addition of the names released today, the assets of a total of 578 businesses and individuals are blocked under the 1995 Executive Order; and those businesses and individuals are prohibited from American financial and business dealings. The list of SDNTs now includes ten kingpins from Colombia's drug cartels, namely Cali cartel drug kingpins Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, Jose Santacruz Londo��, Helmer Herrera Buitrago, and Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia; North Coast cartel drug kingpin Julio Cesar Nasser David; and North Valle cartel drug kingpins Ivan Urdinola Grajales, Julio Fabio Urdinola Grajales, and Arcangel de Jesus Henao Montoya. The U.S. Government will continue to identify businesses owned or controlled by Colombian drug cartels and expand the SDNT list to include additional drug traffickers and their organizations. The list of businesses and individuals named by Treasury today as SDNTs is available at www.treas.gov/ofac, as is the entire list of SDNTs. The list will be published in the Federal Register at a later date.