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Clan del Golfo (AGC)
Wikipedia (en)
The Clan del Golfo (English: The Gulf Clan), also known as Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – AGC) and formerly called Los Urabeños and Clan Úsuga, is a prominent Colombian neo-paramilitary group and currently the country's largest drug cartel. It is based in the Urabá region of Antioquia, and is involved in the Colombian armed conflict. Los Urabeños is one of the organizations that appeared after the demobilization of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. In late 2011 Los Urabeños declared war on Los Rastrojos over the control of the drug trade in Medellín. Their main source of income is cocaine trafficking as they appear to be the largest distributors of cocaine in all of Colombia. As of late 2021, it is considered the most powerful criminal organization in Colombia, having some 3,000 members in the inner circle of the organization in 2016 with its current numbers unknown. Its rivals include the National Liberation Army. The Gulf Clan has recruited accomplices at the highest level of the military hierarchy, such as generals and colonels.One of the many groups made up of former mid-level paramilitary leaders, the Clan have caused homicide rates to skyrocket in Colombia's northern departments. It is currently one of the more ambitious and ruthless of Colombia's drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). The group's power base is currently in the Antioquia, Sucre and Córdoba departments, with a presence in various other departments and regions in the country including major cities such as Medellín and Bogotá. Currently, the Clan is likely the single largest distributor of cocaine in the world having formed direct, highly-lucrative partnerships with drug cartels in Mexico as well as European crime groups such as 'Ndrangheta and the Albanian mafia who split their billions made in profit from the illegal cocaine trade with the Clan.In June 2020, the Colombian National Police revealed that former Los Rastrojos member Marlon Gregorio Celis Caballero, alias 'Loquillo or Felipe', had become the new leader of the Clan del Golfo by April 2020. At the time of this revelation, the Clan del Golfo reduced its drug trafficking route to the Caribbean region and also named a Ciénaga native with the alias "Diana" as the new head trafficker. However, the Clan del Golfo has also been distracted by a direct conflict with FARC dissidents. On October 23, 2021, the group's leader Dario Antonio Úsuga David, better known as Otoniel, was captured. At the time of his arrest, Otoniel was Colombia's most wanted drug lord. Following the arrest of Otoniel, President of Colombia Iván Duque Márquez described the weakened Clan del Golfo as "over" and claimed that "its days are numbered".
