CIA STARGATE release
CIA-RDP96-00789R003501040006-3
Opens with: The leaders of the powerful
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1 page, machine transcribed from the CIA’s released scan.
Approved For Release 2000/08/09 : CIA-RDP96-00789R003501040006-3 COLOMBIA Wanted, but Not Found The leaders of the powerful Medellín cocaine cartel have become folk heroes for their ability to escape the relentless pursuit of government security forces. Last week Pablo Esco- bar Gaviria, 39, a leader of the drug ring that controls 80% of the cocaine en- tering the U.S., pulled off one of the most im- ANDEVILLE-GAMMALIAISON pressive get- aways. In an op- eration code Escobar named Against 8930 the Fortress, some 600 police and army troops raided a ranch, 40 miles outside Medellín, buti Escobar managed to elude them. When the police fleet of ten helicopters suddenly appeared overhead at 6:30 a.m., one sen- try ran to alert Escobar and oth- ers, while bodyguards opened fire with semiautomatic rifles. Escobar slipped away by run- ning through a patch of wild cane, scuttling across a creek with planks laid over it and, fi- nally, jumping into a speedboat and disappearing. A wide-scale ground and helicopter search failed to turn up Escobar, who is included on the U.S. Justice Department's list of the twelve most wanted Colombian drug traffickers. 4 Dec 89 61 Approved For Release 2000/08/09 : CIA-RDP96-00789R003501040006-3