The Gulf Clan is multiplying its fortune at the expense of human trafficking between Colombia and Panama. It is not only transporting migrants pursuing the American dream, but also alleged international terrorist cells. WEEK rebuild the criminal business that is worrying the continent.
An investigation by the Military Forces warns that The criminal organization would be receiving $ 1,440 million in profits every day for allowing citizens to pass through the Darién Gapa natural barrier of 5,750 square kilometers of rainforest that separates Central America from South America.
The group’s mission is to collect tolls of up to $300 so that Venezuelans, Cubans, Ecuadorians, Haitians, Africans and Asians can circulate. That money must be given to the travel logistics, in charge of tying them a handle that certifies the purchase and giving them a sticker in their passports, a stamp that saves their lives on the trail.
Migrants are classified into two routes that start from Necoclí and Turbo, Antioquia: those with more money acquire a position on speed boats to reach Panama in four hours and the rest take the traditional route, an eleven-hour walk. kilometers that can take five days, depending on the weather and the physical capacity of the subject.
Authorities suspect that the Gulf Clan benefited financially from each of these movements. Apparently, more than $160,000 million entered the group’s portfolio, not counting the extortions it imposes on any commercial establishment that offers any service to foreigners in Antioquia and Chocó.
One of the investigators tracking this criminal business told WEEK that this organization controls everything in the Darién Gap and that its main allies are social networks, through which it coordinates and negotiates the passage of victims. On an average day, 1,200 of them can be illegally allowed to enter the intense jungle.
“These people have colored bands placed on their wrists to be identified. People who do not have these handles are held in an improvised camp for up to three days, while their families make consignments or transfers through electronic means,” said the official, speaking anonymously.
While travelers increase, captures due to this scourge decrease. Based on statistics from the Judicial Investigation Group against Migrant Smuggling, only three people have been prosecuted this year for migrant smuggling in this sector. In 2023 (51 arrests), 2022 (43 arrests), 2021 (51 arrests) and 2020 (37 arrests).
International alliance
The investigation by the Military Forces also exposes an alleged criminal alliance between international cartels for irregular migration. The evidence shows that the Gulf Clan would have the objective of moving foreigners to Panama and would offer special plans to transport cocaine and weapons through the Darién.
The partners in Ecuador would be Los Choneros and Los Lobos, two of the most dangerous gangs in that country that support themselves with drug trafficking, hitmen, extortion, money laundering, illegal mining and human trafficking. Its members would deliver the migrants to the Clan in southwestern Colombia, so that they would be transported to Urabá and then to the jungle.
The same would happen in Venezuela with the Aragua Train, a criminal organization that was born in the state of Aragua and that has expanded strongly towards Peru and Chile. This association would be the most million-dollar of all, since Venezuelans are the ones who move the most across this border: 108,165 in the first five months of 2024, according to Migration.
Once the migrants cross to Central America, the Otoniel criminal group would hand over the people to the gangs of Bagdad and Calor Calor of Panama. Later, to reach North America, they are complemented by the work of Mexican organizations, both the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
The authorities have identified the presence of groups from other continents: “At the border, the passage of members of Lebanese terrorist cells, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, who find in the lack of control a quick way to migrate to other countries, has been recorded. They pay to obtain Colombian ID cards and documents,” added the researcher.
Irregular migration has become a lucrative business for these organizations, mainly for the Gulf Clan, which controls the Darién natural wall, which exploits the vulnerability of people who are pursuing a better future for their lives and families. These profits are fuel for crime.
Who are responsible?
WEEK was able to establish that the interest is in the Central Structure of Urabá, coordinated by alias Richard. On the table there are three key names in irregular migration: José Emilson Córdoba Quinto, alias Negro Perea; Carlos Alberto Torres Marmolejo, alias Tribilín, and Wilder de Jesús Alcatraz Morales, alias El Indio.
Alias Negro Perea is accused of controlling the flow of foreigners through Ungía, Acandí and Riosucio, in Chocó. Tribilín would carry out the same tasks in Necoclí, San Juan de Urabá and Arboletes, Antioquia. AND El Indio would assume the tasks in Turbo, San Pedro de Urabá and in the towns of Pueblo Nuevo, Pueblo Bello, El Tres, El Totumo and Currulao.
Although there are invisible leaders who are taking this criminal business to another level. There are alerts for the new routes that are being opened in Cartagena and San Andrés, where the brands of the Clan del Golfo would also be. On the island alone, 125 irregular migrants have been detected this year and, between 2022 and 2023, 87 missing people have been reported.
The problem is growing strongly and requires equally forceful actions.
