U.S. Jury Convicts Reputed Key Colombian Drug Figure

A Colombian reputed to be a key figure in the Medellin cocaine cartel was convicted Saturday on two federal drug conspiracy counts.

Jose Abello Silva faces up to $8 million in fines and 30 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Thomas Brett set sentencing for May 29.

Jurors convicted Abello, 35, of conspiring to import marijuana and cocaine into the United States and conspiring to possess drugs with intent to distribute.

His attorneys said they would appeal.

The jury deliberated more than 20 hours over three days before issuing its verdicts.

Prosecutors called 23 witnesses during five weeks of testimony. Many were convicted drug smugglers who identified Abello in the courtroom and said he supervised drug shipments from Colombian airstrips through the Bahamas.

Abello testified that he was an honest rancher who sold imported cars and fought bulls on the side. He said he was a friend of the Ochoa family--alleged to be part of the leadership of the Medellin drug cartel--but said his visits with the Ochoas were limited to dealings with cattle.

Colombia’s Administrative Security Department said that Abello was the cartel’s chief of operations for Colombia’s northern coast, where dozens of clandestine air strips are used to smuggle 300 to 400 tons of cocaine into the United States each year. That region also has ports where cocaine is stashed aboard rusty freighters working the coast of Central America and Mexico.

Of 15 Colombians extradited to the United States since last August, Abello is the first whose case has reached a verdict.

The case against Abello started in 1986 when Oklahoma authorities arrested a drug courier en route to Denver. He agreed to cooperate under a plea agreement and helped police apprehend Boris Olarte Morales.

Olarte also agreed to cooperate and began making telephone calls to fellow smugglers. The calls resulted in a February, 1987, meeting on Aruba, an island near Venezuela, between Abello and several others.

Prosecutors contended that Abello agreed to import 500 kilograms of cocaine--more than half a ton--into the United States.