FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 7, 2007

CONTACT: ONDCP Public Affairs: (202) 395–6618

ONDCP Statement Regarding Impact Report on
Economic Sanctions Against Colombian Drug Cartels

(Washington, D.C.)—Today, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) welcomed the release of the May 4th Impact Report on Economic Sanctions Against Colombian Drug Cartels by the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC). The Report chronicles the use of targeted economic sanctions against major trafficking organizations in Colombia authorized under the provisions of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Over the last 11 years, this program has targeted and isolated economically the leaders of Colombia's Cali, North Valle, and North Coast drug cartels.

These illicit trafficking organizations moved hundreds of tons of cocaine and heroin to global markets, earned billions of dollars in illicit revenue, and were responsible for much of the crime, violence, and corruption that have threatened the Colombian people for so long. Drug traffickers' ill-gotten gains funded corporate empires that both disguised the vast profits of the drug traffickers and provided extensive networks that facilitated international drug operations.

Beginning in 1995, IEEPA sanctions have contributed dramatically to the disruption of these organizations and the crumbling of their empires. Sanctions have blocked, seized, or forfeited more than $1 billion in trafficker assets. Traffickers have been publicly exposed, their assets have been frozen, and their enterprises have been isolated and denied access to financial systems and trade. As of December 2006, public records in Colombia and other countries show that hundreds of companies named as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNT) have dissolved, are in the process of dissolution, or are inactive.

With their loss of wealth, these international criminals also lost much of their ability to corrupt and intimidate. Now within reach of justice, over the last 6 years more than 350 major Colombian traffickers have been extradited to the United States to face trial.

John Walters, Director of National Drug Control stated, "IEEPA Sanctions have played a major role in supporting the Government of Colombia's efforts to bring drug traffickers to justice and replace crime and violence with the rule of law. This report could also prove valuable to other governments and law enforcement agencies facing powerful and violent international drug traffickers."