Jan.14, 2010, From: US Department of the Treasury

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today designated Colombian national Ramon Quintero Sanclemente as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker (SDNT) pursuant to Executive Order 12978 due to the significant role he plays in international narcotics trafficking centered in Colombia.

OFAC also today designated 19 additional individuals and 16 entities located in Colombia as SDNTs for their roles in Quintero Sanclemente’s drug trafficking and money laundering organization.

Today’s action prohibits U.S. persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with these individuals and entities and freezes any assets the SDNTs may have under U.S. jurisdiction.

Quintero Sanclemente is a long-time cocaine trafficker and successor to the former leaders of the once powerful North Valle drug cartel.  He was first designated as an SDNT in November 2005 for providing material support to the drug trafficking activities of, and acting for or on behalf of, North Vale cartel leader, Wilber Varela. Today’s re-designation of Quintero Sanclemente reflects his increased role in drug trafficking activities following the death of Wilber Varela in 2008.  Currently, Ramon Quintero Sanclemente is closely aligned with Cali-based drug lord Luis Enrique Calle Serna (a.k.a. “Comba”), also designated by OFAC in November 2005.  Quintero Sanclemente faces federal drug trafficking and money laundering charges in the Southern District of Florida related to indictments filed in1999 and 2008.

Today’s action targets several key leaders in Quintero Sanclemente’s organization, including Mario German Satizabal Rengifo (a.k.a. “Pelo de Cobre”), who was also indicted on federal drug trafficking and money laundering charges in the Southern District of Florida in 2008.  Other individuals controlling key aspects of the drug trafficking and/or money laundering activities of the Quintero Sanclemente criminal organization include Duffay Gutierrez Aguirre (a.k.a. “Gordo Duffay”), Orlando Cifuentes Vargas (a.k.a. “El Chute”), Yanet Cifuentes Vargas (a.k.a. “La Pecosa”), Carmen Viviana Cifuentes Vargas, and Jorge Enrique Dominguez Velez (a.k.a. “El Onli”). Jorge Enrique Dominguez Velez owns Era de Luz Ltda. Libreria Café, a book store and restaurant located in Cali, Colombia that was also designated today.

“Ramon Quintero Sanclemente was a top-level lieutenant in the North Valle drug cartel who now heads his own significant drug trafficking organization in Colombia,” said OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin.  “Today’s designation targets not only Quintero Sanclemente’s numerous illicit assets and a key money laundering network but also his right-hand man Mario German Satizabal Rengifo.”

Jose Alberto, Alejandro Gonzalez Sanclemente, and Fernando Gonzalez Sanclemente were also designated for acting as front persons for Quintero Sanclemente.  Jose Alberto and Alejandro Gonzalez Sanclemente own and control Agroindustrias Jordanes S.A., which operates a chain of steak restaurants in Cali, Colombia, Jordanes Parrilla Argentina. Today’s action also targets a key money laundering network linked to Quintero Sanclemente headed by Cali-based money launderer Walter Lopez Rodriguez, who owns or controls a network of front companies, including Univisa S.A., a Colombian money exchange business used  to launder significant drug profits for Quintero Sanclemente. In May 2007, Colombia’s Superintendencia Financiera fined Univisa S.A. for failing to comply with standard anti-money laundering practices under Colombian law. The company is not currently active.

Today’s designations are part of the ongoing interagency effort by the Departments of the Treasury, Justice, State, and Homeland Security to implement Executive Order 12978, which applies financial sanctions against Colombia’s drug cartels.  Specifically, today’s action is a result of the ongoing cooperation between OFAC and U.S. law enforcement, particularly the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Miami office and Drug Enforcement Administration offices in Miami and Bogota, Colombia.