#The invisibles series

Yet the few mentions that came from our underworld sources suggested this was a sophisticated trafficker playing at the very highest levels. He was presented by the Colombian police as a low-level player, not worthy of serious law enforcement attention. Many had heard of the alias but nobody appeared to have met him, knew what he looked like, or had an idea of his real name. He was linked to the MedellГn cartel, then its successor organization, the Oficina de Envigado, headed by Don Berna. The alias Memo Fantasma has been kicking around the MedellГn underworld since the days of Pablo Escobar. Our thinking was always that this was a top-level paramilitary drug trafficker who decided not to turn himself in, but remained outside the peace process, slinking back into the criminal shadows, until nobody was sure that he had really existed. As the paramilitaries demobilized, Colmenares did not appear, let alone surrender. We pored over the names at the time and were able to identify almost every person behind the aliases, except SebastiГЎn Colmenares. To this day, the Colombian state does not know who he is. Membership at this level meant you were part of the worldвЂ™s criminal elite. The signatories to this, the top paramilitary command, read like the WhoвЂ™s Who of Colombian drug trafficking. It exported hundreds of tons of cocaine a year.Д¬olmenares became visible only briefly in 2004 when he signed a crucial AUC document, 'Unity for Peace,' in Santa Fe de Ralito, in Colombia's northwestern department of CГіrdoba, where different elements of the paramilitary army announced their intention to work together and negotiate a peace agreement with the government. The group demobilized some 30,000 fighters and in its heyday controlled up to 30 percent of Colombia, including some of the countryвЂ™s most strategic drug trafficking real estate. From its formation in 1997 until its demobilization in 2006, the AUC was the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world. Colmenares was the alias of a commander of the paramilitary AUC. The SebastiГЎn Colmenares file was opened in 2004. These were 'SebastiГЎn Colmenares' and 'Memo Fantasma.' SebastiГЎn Colmenares For many years, two aliases remained on our files, for which we were unable to find enough information to initiate an investigation. Many of these files remain dormant for years, or indeed forever, only being activated when new information becomes available. A file is opened when an individual, or an alias, repeatedly appears on our radar, linked with serious transnational organized crime, usually cocaine. SEE ALSO: The 'Invisibles': Colombia's New Generation of Drug TraffickersДЄt any one time, InSight Crime has dozens of open files on suspected invisibles. Their army provided hundreds of invisibles with protection as well as the infrastructure necessary to do business. Then there were the CastaГ±o brothers, once members of the MedellГn Cartel, who founded the right-wing paramilitary force of the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia вЂ“ AUC) in 1997. But hidden behind him and his criminal structure, the Oficina de Envigado, were dozens more invisibles, doing business and making money under his protection. Still, he too stepped into the limelight in 2003 when he entered the paramilitary peace process with the government and sought, unsuccessfully, to evade imprisonment and extradition.

#The invisibles series

We call these drug lords 'The Invisibles.' This is the first article in a six-part series about one such trafficker, alias вЂњMemo Fantasma,вЂќ or 'Will the Ghost.' Read the entire investigation here.Д®scobarвЂ™s successor, Diego Murillo, alias 'Don Berna,' learned from EscobarвЂ™s mistakes, living in the shadows in MedellГn, his alias known to all but his face and real name known to few. *Drug traffickers today have realized that their best protection is not a private army, but rather total anonymity. Yet when Escobar fell, dozens of invisibles remained and many, like Memo Fantasma, survive to this day. Pablo Escobar was the ultimate visible trafficker, becoming a member of Colombia's congress, opening his vast estate Hacienda NГЎpoles to the public and populating it with exotic wildlife.

Because the drug trade needs protectors, with high profits and untrustworthy participants, every invisible needs a вЂњvisibleвЂќ to ensure that agreements are respected and debts are paid. InSight Crime has long believed that behind every famous drug trafficker, there have been many вЂњinvisibles.вЂќ Rather than dressing in alligator boots, sporting gold chains and gold-plated pistols, these drug traffickers have shunned ostentation and the limelight.