Los Pepes

Los Pepes (from Spanish: "Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar, "people persecuted by Pablo Escobar"), was a short-lived vigilante group composed of various enemies of narcotics kingpin Pablo Escobar.

Los Pepes waged a bloody war against Escobar and his associates in the early 1990s.

Name

While the name suggested that all members of Los Pepes were previously persecuted by Escobar, allegedly only a handful of the group's members had suffered at the hands of the notorious drug kingpin. Many members were actually rival drug traffickers. Los Pepes were allegedly funded by the rival Cali Cartel, the Castaño Brothers as well as other unknown persons or groups.

History

Links to authorities

There are reports that Los Pepes had ties to members of the Colombian National Police, with whom they exchanged information in order to execute their activities against Escobar. [http://hrw.org/spanish/informes/1998/guerra4A.html] Indirectly, it is surmised the DEA funded some of these missions as DEA agents were, at times, included in raids conducted by Los Pepes and some of the reward money for tips came from DEA pockets.Fact|date=September 2007

Los Pepes is also strongly tied to Centra Spike, a covert ops group that was heading, in large part, the hunt for Pablo Escobar. There is evidence that Los Pepes acted on CIA/DEA/Delta Force intelligence to launch their missions.Fact|date=September 2007 This actually became some concern for the U.S. as it appeared they would be linked to some of the retaliation acts linked to cutting off Escobar's power (most of these attacks were against his sources of money and negotiations with the government; i.e. his lawyers).Fact|date=September 2007

Aftermath

After Escobar's death in 1993, several of their leaders eventually went on to become the heads of a national paramilitary alliance in Colombia, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a vigilante group that is responsible for numerous massacres and political assassinations in Colombia. The Castaño Brothers (Carlos 1965-2004, Vicente, and Fidel, who went missing in 1994) were founders of several paramilitary groups and the driving force behind the AUC's creation.

Another member of Los Pepes, Diego Murillo-Bejarano aka "Don Berna", became an important drug lord and eventually Inspector General of the AUC.

The Institute for Policy Studies is currently searching for additional information about the exact details of what connections the U.S. CIA and DEA had to Los Pepes. They have launched a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act against the CIA. [ [http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/corru/doc/pepes.html Equipo Nizkor - ¿Cuál fue la relación de la DEA y la CIA con Los Pepes? ] ]

Depictions

Mark Bowden's book entitled "Killing Pablo" (ISBN 0-14-200095-7) highlights some of the operations of Los Pepes and describes some of the forms of cooperation and support that the group allegedly received from members of the Colombian National Police.

ee also

*Diego Murillo Bejarano
*Pablo Escobar
*Carlos Castaño
*Fidel Castaño
*Cordoba and Uraba Peasants Self-Defense
*United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia

Notes

References and further reading