Fabio Ochoa Vasquez, one of the founding members of the Medellin drug cartel, has returned to Colombia after serving over two decades in a US prison for drug trafficking.
The 67-year-old was deported by US authorities and arrived in Bogota on Monday, where he was greeted by family members.
Ochoa, a senior lieutenant to the Pablo Escobar, played a key role in the Medellin cartel, which once dominated the global cocaine trade. The cartel waged a violent war against the Colombian government until Escobar’s death in 1993.
Upon his arrival, Colombian immigration officials verified Ochoa’s identity and confirmed that he is not wanted for any crimes in Colombia, allowing him to reunite with his family.
Ochoa’s criminal history dates back decades. In the early 1990s, he surrendered alongside his brothers under a Colombian program offering reduced sentences to cartel members in exchange for guilty pleas and protection from extradition. The Ochoa brothers were released from prison in 1996. However, Fabio was rearrested in 1999 during Operation Millennium for smuggling cocaine into the US.
In 2003, he was sentenced in a US court to over 30 years for his role in trafficking massive quantities of cocaine—averaging 30 tonnes per month into the US between 1997 and 1999. During the 1980s, Ochoa was a key figure in Escobar’s empire, which supplied 80% of the US cocaine market at its peak.
